Iris review – queasy, mucky and uncomfortable but essential viewing

Opera Holland Park, London
Mascagni’s little-known shocker gets a clear-minded production from Olivia Fuchs, and Anne Sophie Duprels is terrifyingly intense in the title role
Opera Holland Park’s season opens with a new production by Olivia Fuchs of Iris, Pietro Mascagni’s alarming piece of Japonaiserie, first seen in 1898. With narrative overtones of Richardson’s Clarissa and De Sade’s Justine, it’s set in Tokyo’s red-light district, where the teenage I