The House

The House is a "fly on the wall" documentary television series in six episodes which showed various behind-the-scenes events at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. It was filmed by the BBC in 1995, and first broadcast on BBC2 in early 1996 to an audience of four million viewers. A docusoap precursor Stella Bruzzi, in New documentary, describes the series as having been "the immediate precursor to docusoaps (which the BBC produced) and factual entertainment." The production team was "directly involved in illustrating and manufacturing the confrontations and issues raised by its content, most concretely through Jancis Robinson's arch and critical voice-over". Episodes (16 January) Star Struck: Denyce Graves makes her debut as Carmen (23 January) Horse Trading: The budgets for Káťa Kabanová and The Sleeping Beauty have been overspent by more than £240,000; slippery floors and rival ballerinas cause further problems. (30 January) Foot Fault: Thomas Allen receives an urgent call-up to appear in The Marriage of Figaro, as fellow baritone Jeffrey Black has lost his voice. Allen has not previously appeared in this production. (6 February) High Hopes: Protracted discussions about pay take place between management and trade unions; traditionalists and modernists battle over a revival of Harrison Birtwistle's Gawain. (13 February) Settling Scores: Nicholas Payne, Director of Opera, tries to balance business and art. (20 February) Winning Ticket: Established older dancers of The Royal Ballet have to be laid off in order to save money." Reception and aftermath The series received a lot of publicity. Reactions in the press and elsewhere perhaps came as a surprise to the staff of the Opera House, who had co-operated with the film-makers. Indeed the senior management had seen it twice before transmission, without raising any complaints. The BBC's website noted that the documentary "disclosed the rifts and acrimony behind the scenes"; New York magazine commented "A six-part BBC documentary revealed the establishment to be as rife with power struggles and diva fits offstage as on." Michael Kaiser, who became general director of the Opera House in 1998, remarked that "The House only confirmed the general belief that the Royal Opera House was, at best, incompetent, and, at worst, completely devoted to the needs of the rich."