Tosca Tickets at the London Coliseum
A famous singer, the lover she is trying to save, and the police chief who will trade his life for her. Puccini's thriller in a new English National Opera staging by Annilese Miskimmon, sung in English.
From £14About 2 hours 10 minutes, with an interval
An opera at the London Coliseum, near Leicester Square and Charing CrossCloses 11 December 2026
Next available
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020 7193 9050 · Monday to Saturday 8am to 8pm, Sunday 10am to 8pm
Help choosing your seat
Before You Book: This Is Not Rome
The one thing to know. Most productions of Tosca put you in Rome in 1800: a church, a palace, a castle roof at dawn. This one does not. The setting here is a concert hall in a nameless European country that has slid into civil war.
The story is unchanged, and so is every note of the score. What changes is what you are looking at. If you are booking Tosca because you want the postcard version, this is not that production. If you are booking because you want the drama, it is very much that.
Who Is Tosca Best For?
Anyone who has never been to an opera. Tosca is the one to start with. It is a thriller: three acts, one night, a woman trying to save the man she loves from a man who wants her. English National Opera sing in English, so you will understand it without preparation, and there is a surtitle screen as well.
Anyone who knows it already and wants it done differently. A new production of a repertory staple is worth a ticket on its own terms.
Less good for anyone wanting a traditional staging, and for younger children: the plot turns on torture, murder and suicide.
The Story in Short
Floria Tosca is a famous singer. Her lover, the painter Mario Cavaradossi, has hidden an escaped political prisoner. Scarpia, the chief of police, wants both the prisoner and Tosca, and he is willing to use one to get the other. Everything happens across a single night, and it ends badly for all three.
Puccini gives Tosca Vissi d'arte and Cavaradossi E lucevan le stelle, which are among the most recorded arias ever written.
Performance Schedule
Performances run from 30 October to 11 December 2026. Most start at 7:30pm, with some at 6pm, so check the time on your date rather than assuming: it varies more here than at a musical.
Cast and Creative Team
| Role | Performer |
|---|---|
| Tosca | Axelle Fanyo |
| Cavaradossi | Chaz'men Williams-Ali |
| Scarpia | Christopher Purves to 19 November, then Craig Colclough from 21 November |
Axelle Fanyo is a Grammy Award winner making her ENO debut. Conducted by Ben Glassberg, back at ENO after La bohème. Directed by Annilese Miskimmon.
Scarpia is double cast. Christopher Purves sings from 30 October to 19 November, and Craig Colclough from 21 November to 11 December.
Book Your Tosca Tickets
We sell with all-in pricing, so the price you see is the price you pay.
Opera at the Coliseum prices differently from a musical, with more bands and a wider spread. Ring us on 020 7193 9050 and we will tell you what a given seat is actually like for this production.
Dates & tickets
FAQs
Yes. English National Opera performs in English, and there are surtitles above the stage as well, so you get it twice over.
No. It is a thriller and it explains itself. If you want one line of preparation: a singer's lover is arrested, and the police chief offers her a deal she cannot accept.
There is no formal age guidance, but this is a violent story. A prisoner is tortured, the chief of police demands the heroine give herself to him to save her lover, and three characters are dead by the final curtain. We would not take a young child.
About 2 hours 10 minutes, including one interval.
Centre Stalls if the budget allows. If you are watching an opera, avoid the first three rows of the Stalls and the back four rows of the Dress Circle (H to L), where the surtitle screen is hard or impossible to read. Full detail in our London Coliseum guide.
Yes to both. Tuesday 10 November, 7:30pm is signed, and Monday 30 November, 5pm is the relaxed performance. The venue's own access team handles those bookings.
Where to Sit for Tosca
Centre Stalls, rows B to H. The best seats in the building for anything.
The ends of either circle are nearer the stage than the middle seats and cost less, because the circles wrap round the Stalls rather than hanging over them.
For this show specifically, mind the surtitles. Even sung in English, the screen above the stage is what catches the words you miss. Sit out of the first three Stalls rows, where the screen is almost overhead, and avoid the back four rows of the Dress Circle (H to L) and the back two of the Upper Circle (K and L), where it vanishes altogether. The front of the Dress Circle reads it best.
No lift to the Upper Circle. Every other level is served.
Seating plan
Dates & tickets
Booking now
The London Coliseum
St Martin's Lane, WC2N 4ES, three minutes from Charing Cross and Leicester Square. It is the largest theatre in London, around 2,380 seats over four levels, and English National Opera owns it.
Buses: the 24, 29 and 176 along Charing Cross Road.
Arrive early. The bars open 75 minutes before, and the building is worth seeing. Full detail in our London Coliseum guide.
Address
St Martin's Lane, London WC2N 4ES
Nearest Tube
Leicester Square and Charing Cross
Tosca Cast
Axelle Fanyo as Tosca, Chaz'men Williams-Ali as Cavaradossi, and Christopher Purves as Scarpia to 19 November, with Craig Colclough from 21 November.
Conductor Ben Glassberg. Director Annilese Miskimmon. Music by Puccini.
About This Production
This is a new ENO production, opening 30 October 2026, so there are no reviews of it yet. Annilese Miskimmon's staging relocates the opera to a concert hall in a European state in civil conflict.
ENO is presenting it alongside Kaija Saariaho's Adriana Mater, which plays 28 November to 12 December, as a pair about the human cost of war.
Tosca
London Coliseum
