Company of Elders, Sadler’s Wells’ resident over-60s performance company, will present three new works this July under the title Mixed Bill.
Staged in the Lilian Baylis Studio, they include two specially commissioned pieces by James Cousins Company and Waacking artist Bagsy, and a new Three Score Dance commissioned work by choreographer Rhiannon Faith.
Cousins is known for creating visually breathtaking work, while world-renowned waacking artist Bagsy recently headlined at Breakin’ Convention Festival. Faith is a boundary-breaking artist and choreographer whose work crosses disciplines.
Running since 1989, the group of non-professional dancers meets weekly to create new works and showcase the joy of dancing.
Cuckoo, a dark comedy by Michael Wynne, is coming to the Royal Court Theatre.
Staged in partnership with Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse, the Royal Court’s artistic director Vicky Featherstone directs Michelle Butterly, Emma Harrison, Sue Jenkins and Jodie McNee.
Wynne was born in Birkenhead and the production is set in the writer’s hometown with an all-Scouse cast.
Cuckoo runs at the Royal Court Jerwood Theatre Downstairs from Thursday, July 6 to Saturday, August 19, 2023, before transferring to Liverpool Everyman from Wednesday September 6 to Saturday 23, 2023.
Cuckoo is designed by Peter McKintosh, with lighting design by Jai Morjaria and sound design by Nick Powell.
Doreen and her two grown up daughters sit at the table – eating fish and chips, distracted by their phones. Upstairs, 17–year-old Megyn has locked herself in her grandmother’s bedroom and refuses to come out. And no one is entirely sure why…
Wynne’s dark comedy explores the safety of home and the different ways we cope in our increasingly uncertain world.
The playwright will host a post-show talk on Tuesday, July 18, 2023.
He said: “Cuckoo follows three generations of a matriarchal family as they try to live their lives in what can feel like difficult and crazy times. They’re dealing with financial insecurity, economic decline, all pervasive technology and the potential impact of climate change – amongst other things.
“I was interested in exploring how different generations discuss issues and how having opposing opinions has become much more fraught – even within close families.
“The last few years have taken their toll on all of us and I came across this term historical narcissism. It forces us to question whether this really is the worst period of modern times, or if it’s just the way we’re living our lives – with news flashes pinged to us at all hours etc … or are we lacking in perspective?”
“This might sound quite heavy but fundamentally it’s a comedy about a family trying to get on with their lives and each other.”
Omar Bynon will star in Duck, a one-man show coming to the Arcola Theatre from June 27, 2023.
This story follows a British Indian schoolboy attempting to reach dizzying heights of cricketing glory, whilst having to contend with the challenges of adolescence, the pressures of sporting competition, and come to terms with his identity in an environment that doesn’t cater for difference.
Written by maatin, it is directed by Imy Wyatt Corner, associate artist at Arcola Theatre.
On Friday, June 30 and Saturday, July 1, playwright and producer maatin is hosting three performances designed for those who are usually underrepresented in theatre – both on the stage and in the audience – to feel welcomed, celebrated, and comfortable. Inspired by the BLACK OUT performances curated and championed by playwright Jeremy O Harris, and entitled A Space For Us, these performances are particularly open to those who identify as Desi, Brown or Muslim, but are an invitation to all who are a minority in white spaces.
The 15:30 performance on Saturday, July 1 will be followed by an event with figures from the world of sport and academia in discussion with the playwright on south Asian representation and discrimination in sports and beyond, including broadcaster Miriam Walker-Khan, policy researcher Alba Kapoor and author & academic Duncan Stone.
maatin said: “This role was written to give a south Asian performer a stage all to themselves, bringing audiences into the seldom-seen perspective of a British Indian, Muslim teenager boy, while playing a wide variety of characters. Omar Bynon is an exceptionally talented performer who has the charisma and skills to bring Ismail’s world to life on stage. Additionally, it’s an fact that those of us from minoritised identities rarely make up large numbers in theatre spaces, particularly those who identify as non-white. It is my biggest goal to try and change that. To purposefully invite communities that have been excluded – whether deliberately or otherwise – into the theatre should be seen as a positive act that I hope will be celebrated.
Duck comes from Katy Galloway Productions. The assistant director is Maryam Shaharuddin, with set designer Maariyah Sharjil, composer/sound designer Holly Khan, movement director Hamza Ali, lighting designer Jonathan Chan, video and projection designer Rachel Sampley and IBSL performer Nadeem Islam.
Duck runs from June 27 – July 15.
It’s the summer of 2005, and Ismail – ‘Smiley’ to his schoolmates – is about to become the youngest-ever member of his elite public school’s First XI cricket team. A star player full of ambition and talent, he sets his sights on immortality – breaking the school batting record and getting his name into Wisden. But at the start of the season, new coach Mr. Eagles takes a particular dislike to him, for reasons Ismail can’t quite put his finger on. Desperate to prove himself, he runs into a patch of poor form at just the wrong time. Bad luck on the pitch leads to issues off it too, and Ismail finds that no one – friends, family, teammates – seems to get what he’s going through.
Set during England’s famous Ashes victory and the events of 7/7, Ismail discovers that cricket might not be able to take care of everything as it once did.
Tori Allen-Martin, Justin Brett, Peter Hannah and Joaquin Pedro Valdes will head the cast for the world premiere of original musical Then, Now & Next.
Struggling with a difficult past, Alex Shaw is attempting to take steps forward. We follow her journey over twenty years, through two loves – young, adventurous idealist, Stephen, and the older, reliable and charming Peter – as she gathers the scattered chapters of her life, in the hope of re-building her story and asking if she will ever be more than just “fine”. Through Alex’s experiences, her uplifting story questions how relationships can change over time and explores what it takes to truly heal.
Written by Christopher J Orton (My Land’s Shore) and Jon Robyns (The Phantom of the Opera), their first collaboration, the production opens at Southwark Playhouse on June 28. It runs until July 29.
Alice Fearn also stars in the show, which is directed by Julie Atherton.
The band comprises musical director and keys player Honor Halford-MacLeod, guitarist James William-Pattison, cellist Alice Luddington and percussionist Tom Bennett.
Orchestrations, arrangements and musical supervision are by Ben Goddard-Young.
The set and costume designer is Bob Sterrett, with lighting designer Adam King, sound designer Raffaela Pancucci, production manager Titch Gosling, dramaturgy by Kate Golledge, stage manager Zoe Leonard, assistant stage manager Odette Robertson and sound operator Amber Carey. It is produced and general managed by Paul Virides Productions.
Take a look at Patriots, the new play from Peter Morgan that has landed at the Nöel Coward Theatre.
Tom Hollander (The White Lotus) stars as Boris Berezovsky, with Will Keen (His Dark Materials) as Vladimir Putin and Luke Thallon (Albion) as Roman Abramovich.
The cast also includes Matt Concannon (Assistant/Daniel Kahneman/Russian Captain), Ronald Guttman (Professor Perelman), Sean Kingsley (Voloshin /Nurse), Paul Kynman (Korzhakov/Yeltsin/FSB Boss/Reporter/Bodyguard) and Jessica Temple (Anna Berezovsky/Newscaster/Journalist/Secretary/Pianist).
New cast members Josef Davies (Alexander Litvinenko), Ashley Gerlach(Lawyer/Home Office), Howard Gossington (Teacher/Compromised Newscaster), Stefanie Martini (Marina Litvinenko/Nina Berezovsky) and Evelyn Miller (Tatiana/Katya/Judge/Lover). They are joined by understudies Peter Eastland, Lydia Fraser and Matt McClure.
Patriots is writer Morgan’s (Frost/Nixon) first new play since The Audience. He is best known for writing Netflix hit The Crown.
It is the Almeida Theatre’s fastest selling new play and has now transferred to the Noël Coward Theatre for a limited twelve-week run, which began on May 26 and continues until August 19, 2023. Opening night is on June 6.
Directed by the Almeida’s artistic director Rupert Goold (Ink, Enron), Patriots is a brilliant and startlingly timely story of ambition, loyalty and betrayal in a brave new world.
1991. The Fall of the Soviet Union. With the dawning of a new Russia, there are winners and losers, and today’s patriot can fast become tomorrow’s traitor.
As a new generation of oligarchs fights to seize control, Patriots follows billionaire businessman Boris Berezovsky from the president’s inner circle to public enemy number one.
The full creative team for Patriots is director Rupert Goold, set designer Miriam Buether, co-costume designers Deborah Andrews and Miriam Buether, lighting designer Jack Knowles, sound designer and composer Adam Cork, casting director Robert Sterne, movement director Polly Bennett and associate director Sophie Drake.
Cherrell Skeete, Zachary Momoh and Sebastian Armesto will head the cast of Beneatha’s Place, Kwame Kwei-Armah’s satire at The Young Vic.
Running from June 27 to August 5, Skeete will star as Beneatha Younger, Momoh as Joseph Asagai/Wale Oguns, Armesto as Daniel Barnes/Prof Mark Bond, with Jumoké Fashola as Prof Shirley Jones/Aunty Fola, Tom Godwin as Mr Nelson/Prof Gary Jacobs, and Nia Gwynne as Mrs. Nelson/Dr Harriet Banks.
1959. The first wave of independence is sweeping across Africa and Beneatha has left the prejudice of 1950s America for a brighter future with her Nigerian husband in Lagos. But on the day they move into their new house in the white suburbs, it doesn’t take long for cracks to appear, changing the course of the rest of their lives.
Present day. Now a renowned Dean whose colleagues are questioning the role of African American studies for future generations, Beneatha returns to the same house in search of answers.
Inspired by the groundbreaking civil rights drama, A Raisin in the Sun, Beneatha’s Place challenges today’s culture wars about colonial history and reckoning with the past.
The creative team is completed by set and costume designer Debbie Duru, lighting designer Mark Henderson, sound designer Tony Gayle, voice and dialect coach Esi Acquaah-Harrison, casting director Heather Basten, Jerwood assistant director Ellis and Jerwood trainee assistant director Tia-zakura Camilleri.
Hampstead Theatre has announced its 2023/24 season with a run of eight new productions set to start this September.
The season includes three world premieres on the main stage: Anthropology by Lauren Gunderson, directed by Anna Ledwich; To Have and To Hold by Richard Bean, directed Richard Wilson; and Double Feature by John Logan, directed by Jonathan Kent.
A further three world premieres and a UK premiere will play in Hampstead Downstairs: Octopolis by Marek Horn, directed by Ed Madden; Nineteen Gardens by Magdalena Miecznicka, directed by Alice Hamilton; This Much I Know by Jonathan Spector, directed by Chelsea Walker and Out of Season by Neil D’Souza, also directed by Alice Hamilton.
Completing the season is Tom Stoppard’s Rock ‘n’ Roll, directed by Nina Raine.
Tickets are now on sale.
The programme for autumn 2023 marks a new future for Hampstead Theatre following Arts Council England’s decision to cut its NPO grant by 100 per cent. Hampstead’s future and renewed commitment to present ambitious original work will be driven by ticket sales, commercial income and philanthropic support.
Here’s more about the new season:
HAMPSTEAD THEATRE MAIN STAGE
Anthropology By Lauren Gunderson Directed by Anna Ledwich September 7 – October 14, 2023
Merril is one of Silicon Valley’s leading software engineers, but her life disintegrates when her younger sister Angie vanishes on her way home from college. A year later, when the police have long abandoned their search, Merril assembles all the digital material Angie has left behind and sets about building herself a digital simulation of her sister. The resultant ‘virtual Angie’ offers her some solace – until, that is, it starts to reveal new details about the real Angie’s disappearance.
To Have and To Hold By Richard Bean Directed by Richard Wilson October 20 – November 25
After sixty years of marriage, happily settled into their retirement village in Yorkshire, Jack and Florence have elevated bickering almost to the status of high art. That said, they’re otherwise getting along fine with the support of a cousin and the hilarious interventions of the man known locally as ‘Rhubarb Eddie’. But will their anxious son, shuttling between London and LA, and their errant daughter, contemplating a move to Australia, leave them to live out their days in peace?
Rock ‘n’ Roll By Tom Stoppard Directed by Nina Raine December 6 – January 27
1968: Russian tanks have rolled into Czechoslovakia, and Syd Barrett has been dumped by Pink Floyd. Jan, a visiting postgrad at Cambridge, breaks with his old professor Max, a Marxist philosopher, and heads home to Prague with his suitcase full of “socially negative music”. Rock ’n’ Roll covers the ensuing 21 years in the lives of three generations of Max’s family while Jan is caught in the spiral of dissidence in a Communist police state. But it’s a love story too – and then there’s the music…
Double Feature By John Logan Directed by Jonathan Kent February 8 – March 16
1964/1967. In a rented cottage in Suffolk, a brilliant young film director, deep in making his magnum opus, confronts the ageing star that the studio has imposed on him. Vincent Price is about to walk out on the film, and Michael Reeves’ career hangs by a thread. Across the world, in a strange simulacrum of a Suffolk cottage created on a Hollywood lot, a great director and his star are engaged in a very different sort of power-game, as Alfred Hitchcock and Tippi Hedren take time off from making Marnie for one final confrontation.
HAMPSTEAD DOWNSTAIRS
Octopolis By Marek Horn Directed by Ed Madden September 15 – October 28
Professor George Grey is a brilliant behavioural biologist who, alongside her recently deceased husband, became world-renowned for her pioneering research into octopus intelligence. Mainly the intelligence of one particular octopus, in fact: Frances, who still resides in a large, purpose-built tank in George’s campus accommodation.
Into this house of grief walks Harry – an ambitious anthropologist, despatched by the university with permission to test his breath-taking new theory on Frances. The nature of his assignment is shocking to George, and threatens to tear her world apart in more ways than one.
Nineteen Gardens By Magdalena Miecznicka Directed by Alice Hamilton November 3 – December 9
Nearly two years after the end of their affair, John and Aga meet once more. Each has filled the void left by the other: he has withdrawn into his world of wealth and privilege; she has found herself working as a chambermaid to support her family. Both recognise that the spark between them is still there. Will they rekindle what they had, or is an altogether darker game about to be played out?
This Much I Know By Jonathan Spector Directed by Chelsea Walker December 13 – January 27
A tenured professor of psychology, Lukesh enjoys a life as organised and logical as his mind. But then his wife vanishes, sending only a text message by way of explanation and leaving him to re-evaluate their relationship. He discovers she has embarked on an epic odyssey, crossing and recrossing Russia and delving deep into Soviet history on a quest to unravel a family mystery of which he was unaware – one in which Josef Stalin himself may be involved.
Out of Season By Neil D’Souza Directed by Alice Hamilton February 16 – March 23
Yes – the band is back in town! Michael, Chris and Dev are returning to Ibiza and the hotel where it all began thirty years ago. But Michael’s stuck in London, Dev’s got a bad back and Chris…well, he’s just Chris. And it turns out that none of them are in their twenties anymore! As this middle-aged trip down memory lane is about to hurtle off the tracks, Holly and Amy arrive, so down-to-earth they might just save our feckless heroes from really humiliating themselves…
Here’s the cast of Lyndsey Turner’s National Theatre production of The Crucible in rehearsals as the show makes its West End transfer to the Gielgud Theatre.
With set designed by Es Devlin, this contemporary new staging of Arthur Miller’s gripping parable of power and its abuse will play at the Gielgud Theatre from June 7 until September 2.
A witch hunt is beginning in Salem. Raised to be seen but not heard, a group of young women suddenly find their words have a terrible power. As a climate of fear spreads through the community, private vendettas fuel public accusations and soon the truth itself is on trial.
Milly Alcock (House of the Dragon) will play the role of Abigail Williams with Caitlin FitzGerald (Succession) playing the role of Elizabeth Proctor and Brian Gleeson (Bad Sisters) the role of John Proctor. Joining the previously announced cast is Karl Johnson as Giles Corey.
The ensemble also includes Christopher Birch, Lucy Brindle, Grace Farrell, Chyna-Rose Frederick, Miya James, Ebony Jonelle, Tama Phethean, Amy Snudden, Nia Towle and Samuel Townsend.
Returning to the production following its sold-out run at the National Theatre are Fisayo Akinade as Reverend Hale and Matthew Marsh as Danforth. Completing the cast are David Ahmad, Zoë Aldrich, Stephanie Beattie, Raphael Bushay, Henry Everett, Nick Fletcher, Colin Haigh, Nadine Higgin, Gracie McGonigal, Alastair Parker, Joy Tan and Tilly Tremayne.
Turner’s production of The Crucible originally ran at the National Theatre in autumn 2022.
Turner and Devlin are joined by costume designer Catherine Fay and lighting designer Tim Lutkin. Sound design is by Tingying Dong and Christopher Shutt. The composer and arranger is Caroline Shaw; and music director and arranger is Osnat Schmool; with casting by Alastair Coomer and Naomi Downham. They are joined by associate director Blythe Stewart; associate set designer Ellie Wintour; associate lighting designer Max Narula; fight director Bret Yount; lead intimacy directors Ita O’Brien and Louise Kempton; voice and dialect coach Kate Godfrey; dialect coaches Danièle Lydon and Hazel Holder; assistant music director Alice Grant and resident director Sophie Dillon Moniram.
The English National Opera (ENO) will stage nine productions at the London Coliseum across its 2023/24 main stage season.
Titles will include the UK premiere of Marina Abramović’s 7 Deaths of Maria Callas; a semi-staged concert of Bartók’s Duke Bluebeard’s Castle, the first ENO performance of the work in 15 years, with Martyn Brabbins conducting; and the return of David Alden’s production of Britten’s Peter Grimes.
One of the ENO’s most successful ever productions, Gilbert & Sullivan’s Iolanthe, will return for its first revival; Peter Konwitschny’s Olivier Award winning production of Verdi’s most famous opera La Traviata also returns, and Annilese Miskimmon’s The Handmaid’s Tale will have its first revival.
The season also includes Jonathan Miller’s The Barber of Seville; Simon McBurney’s accessible family favourite The Magic Flute and David Alden’s production of Janáček’s Jenůfa.
ENO’s opera season comes on the back of a “difficult” six months for the company following the the Arts Council’s removal of its National Portfolio status and a delay in the confirmation of future funding.
Annilese Miskimmon, Artistic Director of the ENO, said: “This past season has been challenging following the Arts Council’s removal of the ENO’s NPO status but also incredibly rewarding with sell out, critically acclaimed productions across a huge breadth of repertoire.
“This 2023/24 Season at the London Coliseum showcases some of the productions and repertoire that the company is most renowned for. We have curated this season to delight our ENO regulars and newcomers alike with the return of old and new favourites that highlight the drama, beauty and emotion of this fascinating art form.”
Here’s more information about each show:
7 Deaths of Maria Callas
November 3 – November 11, 2023
A UK premiere, performance artist Marina Abramović makes her ENO debut with her production of 7 Deaths of Maria Callas. Exploring the life, work and death of one of opera’s greatest stars, this staging marks 100 years since the American-born Greek soprano’s birth.
Callas – whose private life was never quite able to be separated from her performances – has fascinated Abramović for decades, and she has conceived this operatic project as a homage to the great prima donna. The production premiered in September 2020 at Munich’s Bayerische Staatsoper and has since toured to co-production partners: the Greek National Opera, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Opéra national de Paris, and the Teatro San Carlo di Napoli.
Immortalised through her place in popular culture, Callas (sometimes referred to as ‘La Divina’ – the divine one) is invoked on stage through a series of her most famous arias from La traviata, Tosca, Madam Butterfly, Carmen, Otello, Lucia di Lammermoor and Norma. These arias are woven together with new music by Serbian composer Marko Nikodijevic. Abramović is the director and set designer, and the conductor is Yoel Gamzou who has conducted this work across Europe.
Accompanying each of these aria performances are a series of short films starring Abramović and actor Willem Dafoe. Present on stage throughout the performance, Abramović plays the sleeping Callas, haunted by her greatest roles, in a set that recreates the Paris apartment where Callas died.
The cast of singers playing Callas in her greatest roles includes soprano Eri Nakamura in the role of Violetta; and former ENO Harewood Artist Nadine Benjamin as Desdemona. Karah Son sings Cio-Cio San’s Un bel di, and Sarah Tynan sings Lucia from Lucia di Lammermoor.
They are joined by the critically acclaimed mezzo-soprano Aigul Akhmetshina singing Carmen, a role that soprano Callas never played on stage, but whose arias she frequently performed in concert. Soprano Elbenita Kajtazi sings Tosca’s Vissi d’arte making her UK operatic debut, and soprano Sophie Bevan sings Norma.
Duke Bluebeard’s Castle
Closing the season at the London Coliseum is a new semi-staged concert of Bartók’s Duke Bluebeard’s Castle, the first ENO performance of the work in 15 years.
Martyn Brabbins (Gloriana) again leads the ENO Orchestra in this thrilling score. The one-act opera, based on Charles Perrault’s French folk-horror, sees the Duke introducing his new wife Judith to her foreboding new home where terrible secrets hide within.
Natalya Romaniw makes a role debut as Judith, reuniting with the ENO Orchestra following numerous roles with the ENO including Mimi in La bohème, the title role in Tosca, and Mary Kelly in Jack the Ripper: The Women of Whitechapel. Joining her on stage is renowned bass-baritone John Relyea as the fearsome Bluebeard, his second role with the company this season after The Magic Flute and 2023’s The Rhinegold.
Peter Grimes
September 21 – October 11, 2023
The opening of the ENO’s 2023/24 season is marked by the return of David Alden’s searing psychological drama, Peter Grimes. This production showcases the ENO Chorus, along with the ENO Orchestra, conducted by the ENO’s Music Director Martyn Brabbins.
Peter Grimes is the tale of an ostracised outsider turned upon by the community, set against the melodramatic and claustrophobic backdrop of a Suffolk fishing village. The opera received its premiere by the ENO (then Sadler’s Wells Opera) in 1945.
Gwyn Hughes Jones makes a role debut as Peter Grimes. Also making a long-awaited role debut is soprano Elizabeth Llewellyn as Ellen Orford. Returning to the ENO is bass-baritone Simon Bailey in the role of Balstrode.
Joining them are ENO favourites Christine Rice as Auntie, Clive Bayley as Swallow, David Soar Hobson, and former ENO Harewood Artist Alex Otterburn as Ned Keene.
Iolanthe
October 5 – October 25, 2023
One of the most popular productions in company history, Iolanthewas debuted by notable comedy director Cal McCrystal in 2018, and now gets its first revival.
Flying fairies, quarrelsome lords, and an ensemble of quirky characters gather in this hilarious satire on British government, law and society.
McCrystal returns to the director’s chair to lend his characteristic slapstick panache to the production, with Chris Hopkins conducting after his success with The Yeomen of the Guard, HMS Pinafore and The Mikado.
Returning to their ‘roles are mezzo-soprano Samantha Price as titular Iolanthe, with soprano Ellie Laugharne as Phyllis and baritone Marcus Farnsworth as Strephon. Bass-baritone John Savournin performs the role of the Lord Chancellor. Mezzo-soprano Catherine Wyn-Rogers makes a role debut as the Queen of the Fairies.
La traviata
October 23 – November 12, 2023
Returning to the London Coliseum is Peter Konwitschny’s production of La traviata. Romantic and tragic in equal parts, Verdi’s most famous opera tells of heart-breakingly beautiful Violetta’s doomed love for Alfredo, for which she would sacrifice everything.
Soprano Nicole Chevalier sings the doomed courtesan. Her lover Alfredo is sung by tenor Jose Simerilla Romero . Alfredo’s father Giorgio is sung by baritone Roland Wood.
The Handmaid’s Tale
February 1 – February 15, 2024
Following its premiere in 2022, this is the first revival of the ENO’s Artistic Director Annilese Miskimmon’s production of The Handmaid’s Tale, based on the novel by Margaret Atwood. Joana Carneiro returns to conduct.
Set in a totalitarian state in which women, stripped of their identities and rights, are subjected to the whims of a patriarchal republic, this thought-provoking work magnifies the issues of state control and the fragility of freedom as heroine Offred struggles against the nightmare she finds herself in.
Returning to lead the cast is mezzo-soprano Kate Lindsey as Offred. Also returning to their roles are contralto Avery Amereau as Serena Joy, tenor John Findon as Luke and soprano Rhian Lois as Janine/Ofwarren. Joining the cast in role debuts are soprano Rachel Nicholls as Aunt Lydia, bass James Creswell as The Commander and soprano Nadine Benjamin as Moira.
The Barber of Seville
February 12 – February 29, 2024
Jonathan Miller’s production of Rossini’s The Barber of Seville, first staged in 1987 at the ENO, is back to entertain audiences in February 2024.
Set in 18th century Seville, Rossini’s comic masterpiece is the first in Beaumarchais’s ‘Figaro trilogy’, making it a prequel to the story of Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro. The opera sees dashing Count Almaviva attempt to win the beautiful Rosina from the clutches of her guardian Dr Bartolo, enlisting the help of his barber Figaro and a series of cunning disguises along the way.
Leading this revival is director Peter Relton. Conductor Roderick Cox makes his ENO and UK opera debut.
Baritone Charles Rice is in the role of Figaro. The role of Rosina is performed by soprano Anna Devin, making her ENO and role debut.
Current Harewood Artist and tenor Innocent Masuku is performing the role of Count Almaviva. Antagonist Dr Bartolo is bass-baritone Simon Bailey in his second role of the season.
The Magic Flute
February 28 – March 30, 2024
Simon McBurney’s The Magic Flute is staged at the London Coliseum in collaboration with pioneering theatre company Complicité.
This unique rendition of one of Mozart’s most enduring operas combines singers and actors to evoke a magical world of monsters and mystery. Armed with only a magic flute, Prince Tamino is given a fantastical quest to rescue the Queen of The Night’s daughter Pamina from the High Priest Sarastro. A contemporary setting, with live sound effects, drawing, animation and the ENO Orchestra raised to stage level make this an accessible operatic event. Making her ENO debut conducting the ENO Orchestra is Erina Yashima.
Tenor Norman Reinhardt makes his ENO debut as Tamino. Rainelle Krause is The Queen of the Night.
Soprano and former ENO Harewood Artist Soraya Mafi makes her role debut as Pamina, with baritone David Stout singing Papageno, bass-baritone John Relyea as Sarastro, and tenor Peter Hoare as Monostatos.
Jenůfa
March 13 – March 27, 2024
David Alden’s production of Janáček’s Jenůfa returns to the London Coliseum, maintaining the ENO’s strong connection with the composer’s work, which began with Charles Mackerras’ championing it in the 1950s.
Based on the original late nineteenth century play by Gabriela Preissová, Jenůfa explores honour, love and sacrifice against the backdrop of a small, claustrophobic community and tangled family relationships. Premiering in Brno in 1904, the work launched Janácek’s operatic career.
Alden updates the opera’s original setting from a traditional Moravian village to an isolated twentieth century industrial estate in the Eastern Bloc.
Founding conductor and music director of the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra, Keri-Lynn Wilson conducts.
Soprano Jennifer Davis makes a role debut as Jenůfa. Making welcome returns to the ENO are soprano Susan Bullock singing Kostelnička and mezzo-soprano Fiona Kimm as Grandmother. Tenor Richard Trey Smagur makes his UK debut as Laca, with tenor and current ENO Harewood Artist John Findon singing his second ENO role of the season as Števa.
Shirley Valentine, the West End production of Willy Russell’s comedy, has celebrated 100 performances at the Duke of York’s Theatre.
The milestone was marked tonight after a century of shows starring Sheridan Smith, all selling out (including standing room).
Shirley Valentine is the joyous, life-affirming story of the woman (Smith) who got lost in marriage and motherhood, the woman who wound up talking to the kitchen wall whilst cooking her husband’s chips and egg. But Shirley still has a secret dream. And in her bag, an airline ticket. One day she may just leave a note, saying: ‘Gone! Gone to Greece.’
The show’s producer, David Pugh, said: “Never in my wildest dreams did I think that in 100 performances every seat would be sold with every standing position filled. This is a phenomenal achievement for Sheridan Smith and Willy Russell and one as a producer I am so proud of.”
Shirley Valentine continues its run at the Duke of York’s Theatre until June 3, 2023, with limited seats available for the final weeks. Find tickets here.
SHIRLEY VALENTINE is written by Willy Russell, directed by Matthew Dunster, designed by Paul Wills, with lighting design by Lucy Carter, sound design by Ian Dickinson for Autograph and is produced by David Pugh.