It is reasonable to suppose that the style and setting of the 1905 production were consistent with the period it was written in. As 2005 will be the centenary of the show and the 60th anniversary of Hatton Operatic Society, I suggested that the style and setting for this production should also be consistent with the period it is being presented in - namely now. The setting in the Pontevedrian Embassy would have been opulent and the gardens of Madame Glavari’s residence extensive - not realistic in 2005 with property values in central Paris mitigating against such extravagance!

For 2005 I have suggested the following rationale…..

The small eastern European country of Pontevedria has recently been admitted into the European Union – a cause for great celebration and national pride. As a marker the Pontevedrian government have replaced the old Embassy with a new architecturally daring building. It is in the Atrium of this newly commissioned building that Act I takes place. Needless to say, such an expenditure has almost ruined the national purse, hence the need to hang onto Anna’s 20 Billion Euros

In the 100 years since the first production, land prices have rocketed in Paris and the Glavari residence and grounds have been sold for re-development. Madame Glavari lives in a sumptuous penthouse on the top two floors of the main building and it is in her extensive roof garden with views over Paris that Acts II & III are set.

So we move our story to a newly commissioned Embassy building and the roof terrace of Anna’s penthouse apartment overlooking the rooftops of Paris. Maxim’s, of course, is still going strong and the traditional Can-Can, so provocative and risqué in 1905, is still a crowd puller. The fan, the focus for intrigue and misunderstanding in the original is replaced in 2005 by a delicate ladies’ mask, as the occasion opening the operetta is a masked ball celebrating the country’s inclusion into the EU.

Clive Walker