Music/Opéra bouffe  A brilliant revival for the Komische Oper Berlin! With his production of ‘La Belle Hélène’, artistic and principal director Barrie Kosky shows once again what makes this celebrated opera house and its ensemble so distinctive: great voices, outrageous visual flair and a remarkable delight in performance. Jacques Offenbach created this scandalous travesty of Greek antiquity around the story of Helen of Sparta in 1864. Over 150 years later, Barrie Kosky finds the incomparable charm of Offenbach’s opera bouffe in its nonsense elements and breakneck tempo. A spurned husband, an indecently good­looking shepherd, a high priest and – unrivalled in her position at the centre of events – the gorgeous Helen: once the gods are involved, nobody is safe from the machinations of fate!