Billy Budd at Covent Garden

This evening we went to Covent Garden to see Benjamin Britten’s Billy Budd.  When we entered the Auditorium there was this stark stage with a single man just sitting there.
 
It was a tremendous performance, with the singing of the chorus and the principals outstanding and the choreographed set pieces executed with great precision and energy.
 
Then at the end, the stage was empty apart from the Captain, Edward Fairfax Vere, and again this single man sitting in precisely the same spot, and you realised that this was an older Vere, still troubled by what had taken place in 1797.
 
A lot of reflecting on the way home.