I briefly considered making a new life rule: stop signing up for one-act modern operas. After all, both Last Days at the Royal Ballet & Opera yesterday and Il Viaggio, Dante at the Paris Opera in March were not good. However, my conscience reminded me of The Knock at Central City Opera back in July, which was genuinely lovely. So the real rule might be: when a one-act modern opera is bad, ninety minutes becomes an endurance test.
One lingering question from Last Days is whether it even qualifies as an “opera.” Yes, most of the cast sings, but the main character barely vocalizes anything more than a mumble, which is apparently true to the film it’s based on. Then there was the pre-recorded auctioneering by Cole Morrison, which was clever (the subtitles were hilariously different from the audio), but nudged the evening further from opera territory. I’m not a traditionalist by any stretch, but this may have been a step too far into the conceptual wilderness for me.
The music was… rough. Screech-y, aggressively atonal, and determined to avoid anything resembling a melody. Still, I’ll admit there were moments of fun. The orchestra pit featured clusters of glass bottles hanging like a DIY art installation, which were played as instruments. The whole thing often felt more like a film sound-design session than an opera performance, with the 12 Ensemble and GBSR Duo generating an array of non-traditional noises with absolute commitment. And I have to give huge credit for the moment when the entire theater went pitch-black, every light off, and the musicians kept playing flawlessly in the dark. That was legitimately impressive as a former pianist.
Vocally, Patricia Auchterlonie as the Superfan and Sion Goronwy as the Groundskeeper delivered the strongest musical performances of the night. Even if I disliked the score, their technical command was undeniable.
Overall, Last Days felt aimed squarely at that subset of hipster art-world types whose answer to “Who’s your favorite musician?” is always “You wouldn’t know them.” It wasn’t pretending to court a broad audience. Honestly, I should have known better: when I told my film-buff friend I was seeing an opera based on Gus Van Sant’s Last Days movie, he laughed with an amount of evil glee that, in retrospect, was a warning. This one simply wasn’t for me.
Opera: Last Days
Composer: Oliver Leith
Venue: Royal Ballet & Opera
Date: December 15, 2025
Link: https://www.rbo.org.uk/tickets-and-events/last-days-matt-copson-details
Opera Nerd 
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