Opera cast rebels as tempers fray in heat

It isn't easy performing opera in this heat. So after four long days of rehearsals, an opening night and party, it was predictable that tempers might fray at the Holland Park Opera's production of Rigoletto.

Certainly things got a bit hot-headed when a member of the chorus decided against the diplomatic route when the director asked him for his views on the performance. The unnamed male singer told the director, John La Bouchardiere, exactly what he thought, leading to a late-night row.

Tensions appear to have arisen as a result of the young director's exacting demands during rehearsals in which the cast sweltered in full costume.

In the hottest July on record, La Bouchardiere had originally wanted to continue rehearsing in the afternoon before the opening night. But he backed down and agreed that the cast could arrive in the early evening after managers pointed out how tired and hot the singers were.

A spokesman stressed that the heated exchange did not take place at the theatre but in the early hours at a nearby bar. He added: "I must have 20 stand-up rows a year and the next morning everything's fine. That's what we do in theatre, for God's sake."