Don Giovanni is used to getting what he wants.
He is wealthy, powerful and endlessly charming. He lies, manipulates and abuses the trust of those around him, confident that his status will protect him from consequence. Even when confronted, he assumes he can talk, fight or simply walk his way out of trouble.
It is this examination of power and privilege that makes Don Giovanni feel so strikingly contemporary. At a time when we are increasingly questioning how powerful people avoid accountability – and how institutions, friends and colleagues enable their behaviour – the opera asks us to look beyond one man’s actions to the world that allows them to continue.
Leporello condemns Giovanni’s behaviour but remains at his side. Other characters doubt, excuse or underestimate the women who challenge him. Giovanni’s reputation is well known, yet he continues to move freely through society.
The opera also gives us no comfortable distance from him. Giovanni is charismatic, funny and dramatically compelling. Mozart’s music allows us to understand why people are drawn to him, even while showing us the danger beneath the charm. That tension feels particularly relevant now: harmful people rarely present themselves as straightforward villains.
More than a morality tale
This is not simply a story about a bad man being punished. Donna Anna, Donna Elvira and Zerlina are distinct, complicated women, each responding differently to Giovanni’s behaviour. They experience fear, anger, desire and doubt – but they also resist, pursue the truth and demand to be heard.
Around them, Mozart and Da Ponte move between comedy, psychological drama and supernatural thriller. The laughter never entirely removes the threat, and the darkness never extinguishes the opera’s wit or humanity. That uneasy collision of tones makes the world of Don Giovanni feel unpredictable, recognisable and alive.
Why this Don Giovanni?
Tobacco Factory Theatres and Opera Project bring this story startlingly close.
Sung in English and performed in our intimate in-the-round theatre, every joke, threat, seduction and confrontation unfolds just metres from the audience. Mozart’s extraordinary music is experienced without distance or opera-house formality – revealing both the charisma at the heart of the story and the damage it conceals.
Directed and designed by Richard Studer, with Jonathan Lyness as conductor and continuo, this production concludes our journey through Mozart and Da Ponte’s celebrated trilogy.
More than two centuries after it was written, Don Giovanni still asks an urgent question: what happens when charm, status and privilege are allowed to place someone beyond consequence?
🗓️ 23 Sep–3 Oct 2026
🎟️ Tickets from £38
📍 Tobacco Factory Theatres, Raleigh Rd, BS3 1TF
Posted on 17 August 2026
