Backstage at rehearsals for Aida at the Royal Albert Hall

Backstage at final rehearsals for Aida at London's Royal Albert Hall. Photograph: Sarah Lee

Backstage at final rehearsals for Aida at London's Royal Albert Hall. Photograph: Sarah Lee

Backstage at final rehearsals for Aida at London's Royal Albert Hall. Photograph: Sarah Lee

Drawings of costumes, backstage at final rehearsals for Aida at London's Royal Albert Hall. Photograph: Sarah Lee

Backstage at final rehearsals for Aida at London's Royal Albert Hall. Photograph: Sarah Lee

A non-singing addition to the opera, Charlotte Medcalf plays archaeologist Amelia Edwards, an eminent Victorian who devoted herself to the preservation of Egypt's ancient monuments. Backstage at final rehearsals for Aida at London's Royal Albert Hall. Photograph: Sarah Lee

A member of Aida's 200-strong cast watches during the technical rehearsal at London's Royal Albert Hall. Photograph: Sarah Lee

Backstage at final rehearsals for Aida at London's Royal Albert Hall. Photograph: Sarah Lee

Cigarette-and-coke break outside the Royal Albert Hall, during final rehearsals for Aida. Photograph: Sarah Lee

Backstage at final rehearsals for Aida at London's Royal Albert Hall. Photograph: Sarah Lee

Backstage at final rehearsals for Aida at London's Royal Albert Hall. Photograph: Sarah Lee

Cast members rehearse in one of the Albert Hall's bars. Photograph: Sarah Lee

Backstage at final rehearsals for Aida at London's Royal Albert Hall. Photograph: Sarah Lee

Isabella Bywater's set transforms the Royal Albert Hall's arena into an archaeological site complete with tent, Victorian-Edwardian Egyptologists, truncated columns, broken sphinx-ish sculptures and piles of old stones. Photograph: Sarah Lee