The commission is due to Royal Opera House's wish "to produce contemporary and iconoclastic work" alongside the "bohemes and traviatas".

The Guardian cites Kasper Holten, the Royal Opera House's director of opera, as saying that Žižek's work "challenged opera writers to write about their fears and hopes for the world now".

The British paper, which labels Žižek as "the most high-profile and controversial public philosopher of our time", terms the move a bold new direction by the Royal Opera House.