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Opera

The gang rape was the least offensive thing about Royal Opera's new William Tell

The booers have ensured we focus on one scene, when in fact we should be talking about how lazy and ugly the rest of the production was

4 July 2015

9:00 AM

4 July 2015

9:00 AM

Guillaume Tell

Royal Opera House, in rep until 17 July

There’s no such thing as a tasteful rape scene — or there certainly shouldn’t be. It’s an act of grossest violation, of primal violence. It’s also a reality — and a growing one at that — of contemporary warfare, a ‘weapon’ increasingly deployed strategically, coolly, by armies rather than individuals.

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