Axelle Fanyo and the ENO company in rehearsal for Tosca at the London Coliseum

English National Opera has released the first images from the rehearsal room for its new Tosca. It opens at the London Coliseum on 30 October and plays 13 performances, closing on 11 December 2026.

The pictures, taken by Zoe Martin, show Axelle Fanyo at work on Floria Tosca. Christopher Purves, one of the two singers sharing the part of Scarpia, is in the room with her. So are Robert Hayward, the Sacristan, and Steffan Lloyd Owen, who sings Sciarrone. Director Annilese Miskimmon watches from the rehearsal table.

The Children's Chorus appears too. Twenty pupils aged 9-11 from Marlborough Primary School were cast through ENO Engage, the company's partnership with the London West Music Hub. Four months of work take them from school concerts to the Coliseum stage.

Miskimmon, ENO's Artistic Director, sets the opera in a concert hall in an unnamed European state. Civil war is spreading inside its borders and a foreign power is massing outside them. Chaz'men Williams-Ali sings the painter Cavaradossi, Craig Colclough shares Scarpia with Purves, and Ben Glassberg conducts the Chorus and Orchestra of ENO.

Alaric Green is Angelotti and Osian Wyn Bowen is Spoletta. Sets are by Rosanna Vize, costumes by Evie Gurney and lighting by Lee Curran, with movement direction from Imogen Knight. The opera is sung in English, in a translation by Amanda Holden.

Tosca has a companion this season. Miskimmon also directs Adriana Mater, opening on 28 November, and the two productions are built as prequel and sequel. On Saturday 5 December a Tosca matinee is followed by an evening performance of Adriana Mater - the one day both can be seen back to back.

The full casting was announced earlier this week. Tickets start at £25. Under-21s go free at every level of the theatre, and 21-35 year olds can buy discounted seats.

Tosca is booking now at the London Coliseum from 30 October to 11 December 2026.