In 1970 August Everding directed Richard Strauss's opera Salome at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in a production designed by Andrzej Majewski. Salome's death was not seen: she was killed below the stage in John the Baptist's prison. When the production was revived in 1977, it was directed by Charles Hamilton who wanted Salome to die on stage, crushed between the soldiers' shields as in the original stage directions. Royal Opera House Armourer Terry Keen devised two huge spiked shields in the 1970s 'new brutalsim' style, with spikes at the sides and spiked cones in the centre: the side spikes slid back into themselves and the cones were leather-covered springs. At the back of each shield was fixed a blood bag which burst when Salome was crushed so that blood flowed through small holes in the shields. According to Max Loppert in the Financial Times (4 November 1977), Salome's death was 'done with gruesome skilll'.