★★★★★
From the start it was a great idea for a modern opera: strangers forced together by a long delay at an airport. After all, millions more people can relate to that than, say, the magical properties of a flute or the machinations of Norse gods.
However, in the 20 years since Flight’s Glyndebourne premiere April de Angelis’s sharp, witty libretto and Jonathan Dove’s gloriously responsive music have acquired a new topicality, thanks to the waves of refugees struggling across Europe. The opera is based on the true story of an Iranian refugee who lived inside Charles de Gaulle airport for 18 years, unable to proceed through immigration. And the great strength of Stephen Barlow’s production — now restaged by Scottish Opera after a