Theatre Review: Opera UnTouched's "The Telephone" ★★★★★

Why shouldn't an opera be set in an office? Not merely set there; performed there! On Saturday night, a couple of dozen audience members were ushered in to a genuine office in Tooting to watch a short comic opera by Opera UnTouched. It was a burst of sunshine in a rainy day. We're at Ben's leaving party. A flustered woman is busy on the telephone. Will Ben ever get her attention? Both Grace Watkins & Stephen Whitford are astonishingly good opera singers. They cover all the tropes, hit all the notes, and interact well with the audience. I know that every production now claims it is immersive - but here, it genuinely is! The audience wanders through the set to get to the seats scattered around the office, there's a naff PowerPoint presentation projected on to the wall, a leaving card is waiting for us to sign, the singers prance among us. Just intensely joyful. My only real criticism it that it is too short! I suspect it is designed to be a pop-up experience, fringe show, or performed…