An opera about a school shooting - never say I don’t know how to take someone on a date. I have seen one opera in my life, in primary school (I know, I know), and Google reveals that to have been 2004 specifically, so it’s nice to return to the art form. So too to the Royal Opera House (although Clockwork, the aforementioned early foray, was in a studio there, not the main room). Kaija Saariaho’s opera, set in Finland, more accurately depicts both the shooting itself but also the aftermath of it, interspersed with each other both temporally and indeed physically - a revolving four-walled, multi-room structure transforms fluidly between a wedding venue and a school, present and past intertwined. I feel the need to try to not judge all of opera against Innocence - that would be unfair. I enjoy it. It’s a lot. As a naif, it’s fascinating to see how much easier it is to take opera seriously when sung in a foreign language, and how hard it is when it’s just someone shouting English with vibrato. But you adjust, acclimate. This is not a subtle art form, and maybe there’s a question as to whether it’s appropriate for a subject as nuanced as this, but certainly the existential horror of the thing is effective as a result.