On the 150th anniversary of Bizet’s famous opera, Deborah Jones explains why Carmen is so regularly reinterpreted, and talks to director Anne-Louise Sarks about her new production for Opera Australia.

Carmen Topciu as Carmen, singing and holding hands with Roberto Aronica as Don José.
Roberto Aronica as Don José and Carmen Topciu as Carmen in Opera Australia’s Carmen on Cockatoo Island, directed by Liesel Badorrek, 2022. Photo © Prudence Upton

The last time Opera Australia performed Georges Bizet’s Carmen it was done as a pop-up event on Sydney’s Cockatoo Island in 2022 – something in the vein of the annual Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour, but grittier. A less posh HOSH if you will. Carmen has been seen at HOSH too of course – twice – in a dashing...