After the glorious revival of Rossini’s The Barber of Seville earlier this year, Beaumarchais’s wacky characters are back in Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro.

Rosina is now married to the philandering Count Almaviva, who likes to have his way with the household staff. In particular, he has a hard time keeping his hands off his wife’s maid, Susanna, who is betrothed to Figaro – a fine way for the Count to treat the man who helped him steal Rosina away from Dr Bartolo. Oh, and spoiler alert, Bartolo turns out to be Figaro’s father!

It’s laugh-out-loud stuff, and the opening-night audience relishes every gag in Da Ponte’s libretto.

Michael Sumuel, Emily Edmonds and Siobhan Stagg in OA’s The Marriage of Figaro 2025. Photo © Keith Saunders

Director Sir David McVicar created this production for Opera Australia in 2015, following the success of Don Giovanni, which he staged the previous year. It is a testament to his ingenuity, and that of his production designer Jenny Tiramani, that Figaro is as robust as it is – capable of accommodating such varying character interpretations with each remount.

Tiramani’s 17th-century sets and costumes (still the most beautiful...