Cosi Fan Tutte/streamed from Royal Opera House

As part of the collective arts effort to continue to operate in the face of social distancing and then the lockdown, the Royal Opera House are streaming opera on Friday night.

Last night was Cosi Fan Tutte, the last co-operation of Mozart and librettist Lorenzo Ponte. Opera goers and lovers generally prefer the earlier co-operations of Marriage of Figaro and Don Giovanni.

This production by Jan Philip Gloger and Julia Burbach will not close the gap. It’s a long opera of three and a half hours of 5 characters and a somewhat facile story.

Two young men Guglielmo (Gyula Orente) and Ferrando (Paolo Finale) are courting two sisters Fordiluigi (Salome Jita) and Donorella. At the start of the opera the two men meet Don Alfonso, a wordly man about town, who doubts the fidelity of women.

They make a bet that their two inamorata could be unfaithful.

The two men pretend to leave for for war but return in disguise to attempt to seduce each other’s partner. The ladies maid Despina (Serena Gamberoni) appears in various disguises to meddle in the best traditions of opera buffa.

The set was stark, the dress modern (Armani casual wear for the sisters, suits for the men) and – to provide a further contemporary but irksome feel – when the two sisters appear they are on their mobiles.

In the original opera the men reappear as Albanians. Here, after being in the combat gear of the UN Peace Force, they reappear as  long-haired youths with tattoos.

It’s all a long way from Naples in 1790 where the opera was set. The Royal Opera House charges huge ticket prices but this type of production must surely alienate their core audience.

The singing and conducting were of high quality and Sir Thomas Allen has made the role of Don Alfonso his own.

However 9-30pm is my bedtime and with an hour to go I found it an easy exercise to switch if off and retire.