Opera Scotland

Last chance to see the double bill

Posted 30 Oct 2025

The second autumn production mounted by Scottish Opera has been a hugely enjoyable double bill of twentieth century musical farces.  These are great fun, and it is a pity that there are only four performances scheduled in total. The final one, in Edinburgh, is on 15 November.  At the third evening, in Glasgow, the audience had a wonderful time.

Ravel's comedy L'Heure espagnole, while nominally a 'Spanish Hour', in truth has more in common with the classic French farces of Georges Feydeau.  Completely frivolous and great fun, it involves the foiled attempts at extramarital activity by a clockmaker's wife, Concepción.  In her husband's absence she is courted by a local poet and a banker, who both need to hide inside a pair of very large clocks (almost coffin shaped, but never mind).  These are moved around by the local goods carrier - a young muscle man who, inevitably, succeeds with her, without really trying.

The second item is a short comedy The Bear, a late work by Sir William Walton, from 1967.  Again, a coffin features in the set props. This time our heroine is recently widowed, but eventually gets together with her cash-strapped neighbour - they had previously loathed one another.  This is based on a story by the Russian master Anton Chekhov.  Anyone who has seen the excellent recent staging of his classic Seagull at the Lyceum can expect something rather more frivolous.