★★★☆☆
The good news: Oliver Mears’s new Scottish Opera production is full of unexpected insights that deepen Pushkin’s story and tie up its loose ends. The bad news? Its most unexpected moment must have come as an unwelcome surprise even to the director.
To have Onegin make his first entry, Mr Darcy-like, on a real horse was, in theory, a great idea. Unfortunately, the mighty black steed — displaying impeccable dramatic timing — waited until it reached centre stage, then opened its bowels and ejected what seemed like a tonne of steaming dung on the precise spot where Tatyana was about to write her love letter.
This spectacular eruption produced what must have been the biggest roar of laughter heard in Scotland since Ken Dodd