My deep dive into Wozzeck concluded with the onstage performance of the opera at Covent Garden. It did not disappoint. I had seen Deborah Warner's brutal portrayal of Peter Grimes last year, and this had many of the same hallmarks. Indeed the opening scene was of a set of latrines in the military barracks, with Franz Wozzeck the cleaner working the floor with a mop, ridiculed by a succession of urinating soldiers. The collection of squaddies, with shaved heads, smoking, and engaged in casual violence, reappeared at various points as the day to day background to the misery of Wozzeck's existence. Christian Herhaher as the lead was excellent, with a much more convincing depiction of a man suffering deep psychological problems than in the Met production I saw via a stream. The scene breaks were accomplished via a simple partial curtain being briefly lowered to allow set changes, which at least gave the impression of the passing of time. The tavern scenes were possibly the weakest, with little context to suggest either the barbarous community in which Wozzeck lived and worked, or the impact of his "wife's" affair with the drum major being common knowledge and hence a source of further ridicule. The scenes just came over as a meet up of a bunch of nasty drunks and thugs. All very well sung and acted, and a powerfully presented story of one man's tragic inability to break out of the constraints of poverty and the social hierarchy in which he exists.