There are two ways of looking at Michael Kaiser s anticipated departure from
The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. On the one hand he has achieved in his eighteen month stay a remarkable turnaround for a building on the brink of bankruptcy, eliminating a deficit of £5m, and opening it up to, in the words of its marketing director, to “a very different clientele”. A tremendous success story. On the other, because it is the Royal Opera House, the theatre has been plunged into ‘turmoil again (Telegraph), as ‘Opera boss walks out on elitists (Sunday Times). Speculation includes rifts with ‘acerbic chairman Colin Southgate (Guardian) and fundraiser Vivien Duffield, and helpful ‘friends quoting “lords and ladies on the board”, as possible reasons for exit. Whatever the truth, perhaps the more interesting story is who leaked it in the first place and
why?