In this episode of Critical Mash, host Robert Thicknesse and guests take a dive into Jacques Offenbach’s opera The Tales of Hoffmann, coinciding with a new production at Covent Garden. Opera director James Bonas joins Lucy Lethbridge and Yehuda Shapiro to explore how Offenbach uses Hoffmann’s uncanny stories to play with the clichés of romantic opera, doomed love, tragic heroines, and artistic obsession. Plus the big question: does inspiration really come out of a bottle?

Tune in to hear how this fantastical opera blurs the lines between art, reality, and creativity.