The penniless artists in Puccini’s LA BOHÈME, Rodolfo and Marcello, live in rather austere attic lodgings with a view over the rooves of Paris. Act I is set in the winter and their source of heat is an old pot-bellied stove. Our inventory actually includes an authentic old cast-iron stove, probably 200 years old if it’s a day. I’ve been at the Deutsche Oper since 1978 and I seem to remember it featuring in our previous production of the work, along with its bulky flue. The fireclay bricks inside, which were originally there to hold the heat, have been removed to make way for the fuel, which includes the manuscript that Rodolfo »burns« at the beginning of the opera. To give the impression that stuff is actually being burnt we’ve installed a couple of red bulbs and a little smoke machine, which we operate remotely. But everything to do with smoke and steam is a matter for the engineers.