Though David McVicar’s stage production of last season for the Royal Opera House was remarkable for its innovative details, Olivia Fuchs has brought further insight to ENO’s current staging.

Figaro’s aria at the end of the first act was particularly poignant. Though Figaro is supposed to be mocking young Cherubino, who is to join the Count’s regiment, it is Figaro who finds the prospect unbearable.

He and Susanna, who comforts Figaro, understand the cruelty inherent in sending young soldiers to war. Figaro collapses in despair while the pink carnations, present at the front of the stage throughout, become red as to remind one of blood or perhaps of the poppies of war fields.

Olivia Fuchs is a spirited‚ fastidious and imaginative director‚ skilled at weaving small cruelties into the most calorific fantasies (Mayskaya Noch) and highlighting the tendernesses in otherwise brutal tragedies (Macbeth‚ Rusalka).