Melissa Barrera works best under pressure. Which is just as well, because to nail the final set piece of Carmen, the directorial debut of choreographer Benjamin Millepied of Black Swan fame, scored with a dreamlike symphony by Succession's composer Nicholas Britell and co-starring normal person Paul Mescal, she had just half an hour. Half an hour of golden syrupy light, as the sun dipped below the horizon at Broken Hill, to leap into Mescal's arms in rhythmic oblivion at the conclusion of a dance sequence that has to sell passion, longing and despair all at the same time.
“There were also flies,” Barrera points out. “Lots of flies. Annoying flies that just want
