Black Shirt

During the French Revolution in 1793, a member of the Convention, seduced by the Comtesse de Beaulieu, helps her to discover the truth about the relationship between Agnès de Fitz-James and the count who was guillotined.

In the mid-20th century, in Fucecchio, near Florence, Buoso Donati, an elderly collector and wealthy antique dealer, has just passed away. He lies in his bed, surrounded by relatives feigning grief. They are all worried, as the deceased has bequeathed his entire fortune to a monastery. They search frantically for the will. The young Riniccio, Donati’s nephew, finds it but agrees to show it to the family only if they promise to let him marry Lauretta, the daughter of Gianni Schicchi, a local figure of dubious reputation. Everyone accepts the condition and discovers to their horror that the rumour was true: the monks are set to inherit the fortune. Riniccio suggests calling on Schicchi for help, much to the family’s disgust. Summoned, Riniccio arrives at the house accompanied by his daughter. He proposes keeping the death a secret, taking his place, and instructing a doctor and a notary to alter ‘his’ testamentary dispositions. But has the hunter become the hunted? Not so sure...

In Pisa, chance forces an old bookseller out of his isolation. He unleashes the fury of the tenants of his building, he undergoes the rigors of the law and he is involved in the adventure of two lovers whose marriage he arranges.

Woody Allen's production of the Puccini comic opera at LA Opera in 2015

Impresario Adler is imprisoned for insulting an official and therefore unable to negotiate an important concert tour with opera singer Lauri Volpi. In his place, he convinces Friedel, a pretty music student, to travel to Venice to meet the famous tenor. In her travels, Friedel sends postcards written by Adler to his wife to prevent her from knowing his real whereabouts. When Friedel meets Volpi’s attorney, she mistakes him for the singer, and they spend days together in a romantic, picturesque Italy without him revealing his true identity. After his release from prison, Adler realizes two things: firstly, Friedel has been negotiating with the wrong man, and secondly, his wife has discovered the trick with the postcards, traveled to Italy, and started a storm of her own. But when the storm has cleared and the confusions are clarified, nothing holds them back from a happy ending.

Armchair Theatre is a British television drama anthology series of single plays that ran on the ITV network from 1956 to 1974. It was originally produced by Associated British Corporation, and later by Thames Television from mid-1968.

Ajax accidentily startles Socrates, the pet parrot of his fiancé Annita, causing him to fly away through an open window. Annita says she will not marry Ajax until he returns Socrates to her. In his international search for the parrot, Ajax accidentally becomes a wanted man everywhere he goes.

Il tabarro is a tale of jealousy and murder between Michele, his young wife Giorgetta and her lover Luigi, set aboard a barge on the Seine. Suor Angelica tells the story of the nun Angelica’s familial loss, sacrifice and suicide. Gianni Schicchi is an opera full of trickery, greed and romance as a family dispute breaks out over a missing will. The Olivier-nominated Royal Opera production featuring a trio of one-act Puccini operas was first performed together on the same bill at Covent Garden in September 2011, and was acclaimed by the Telegraph as "an operatic treat... three hours of gorgeous music that allows big voices to let emotion rip" and by the Evening Standard as "a triumphant vindication of the social awareness and dramatic power of Puccini's triptych". The trio of operas offers a panorama of emotions, with the dark and foreboding Il tabarro and comic Gianni Schicchi bookending a heart-wrenching Suor Angelica.

Weary of tragic subjects, for the final part of Il Trittico Puccini composed a grand confidence trick orchestrated by a falsifier willing to do anything to gain wealth. Including bringing back the dead!