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Image Description: poster used to advertise the production, a tree made out of abstract images of people on a black background Exploring grief through music, Oxford Contemporary Opera Society has commissioned 5 pieces that move through the stages of grief. Throughout the performances, dissonant chords and large ranges in the melody present challenges for the […]
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Premiered in Milan in 1904, Puccini’s Madama Butterfly was first met with outcry, amidst an uproar of hisses and obscene sneers directed towards the seeming sexual licentiousness of its titular character. Fortunately, the extreme nature of these reactions failed to discourage Puccini who would go on to deem it his best work and ensure its […]
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John Joubert, one of the most celebrated British composers of our time, died on 7 January at the age of 91. Born in South Africa, Joubert lived in England for most of his life, residing for nearly half a century in the city of Birmingham. He held professorships at the University of Hull and the […]
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Oxford, and LMH in particular, host many interesting events but I must say that I’ve never attended an event in Oxford like this Anhui tourism event at LMH. Having cycled through countless roadsuntil I thought I must now be in Cambridge, I eventually arrived at LMH and followed signs to reach Talbot Hall. I suppose […]
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This term, the Oxford Playhouse is putting forward a dynamic cure to 5th Week Blues: a light-hearted romp across the 18th-century world, complete with a motley crew of characters who gather around the hapless young Candide. Even in Oxford – where no one questions the inclusion of Philosophical Consultants in the crew of your operetta […]
Continue ReadingThe beautiful grounds of Wadham college are a long way away from Bertolt Brecht’s vision of the dark criminal underbelly of Victorian London. Yet the most commanding achievement of Poppy Clifford and Louise Mayer-Jacqueline’s production is its ability to translate and define the meanings of the spaces they use, carving a ubiquitous stage from the […]
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Jericho continues to echo its historic role as a place for travellers to rest as we feature another café on Walton Street. This time it’s Opera, the café with a classy name and even classier interior. It claims to offer, coffee, teas, fresh juices alongside oriental sweets, patisserie and pizzas – a slightly muddled array. […]
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The English National Opera, London’s second opera company, is in crisis. Earlier this year, its Music Director, Mark Wigglesworth, quit his post after a tenure that lasted barely six months. This follows the 2015 resignation of the company’s Artistic Director in the wake of Arts Council demands for a 25% budget cut, the implementation of […]
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It’s impossible to quite describe what happens in Off the Page Production’s The Marriage of Kim K. Every time you think you’ve worked out exactly what the plot is something else in one of the interlocking stories taking place on stage throws you again. The play opens with Kim Kardashian herself (played beautifully well by […]
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His 1946 opera, The Rape of Lucretia, is one of Benjamin Britten’s most highly charged pieces, which harrowingly portrays the emotional and interpersonal effects of the brutal act of rape. As it says on the tin, the story centres around the traumatic rape of Collatinus’ wife (played by Tom Herring) by the Prince of Rome. […]
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Benjamin Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia: Director’s Foreword Benjamin Britten’s music has long held a place close to my heart. Most of his operas, in some capacity, address the opposition between the individual and society, an opposition used to characterise Britten’s own feelings of marginalisation in a world that condemned his homosexuality. The Rape of […]
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If you’ve ever thought that Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro could be made better with the addition of reality TV stars, a squabbling middle class couple and an omniscient vlogger, then… Well for one thing, you have unbelievably specific tastes. For another, the O’Reilly has the play for you, starting next week. As that role call of […]
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I was reminded a few days ago why I’m directing Britten’s opera The Turn of the Screw. The whole cast was rehearsing in the sacristy of Merton College, immediately adjacent to the Chapel, which is famous for its resonant and spacious acoustic. First off, I was delighted to have the whole cast together: half are […]
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Third week has been insanely good for student drama, and The Prophetess feels like a combination of the week’s biggest barnstormers. Between the heightened emotion and fearful history of Titus Andronicus and the iconic music and bravura style of Singin’ in the Rain lies this production, a classy little number for the Keble O’Reilly, from […]
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✮✮✮✮✮ Despite being nearly 400 years old, The Coronation of Poppea is a work that is frequently noted for its striking modernity. Written as the young genre of opera was learning to find its feet, the work is immensely confident in its exploration of the black humour of human emotion and motivation. This was […]
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“The music.” Producer Katie Jeffries-Harris’ immediate answer to the question of why choose The Coronation of Poppea may be short and sweet, but her enthusiasm is almost tangible. Choosing to run an abridged concert performance of Monteverdi’s opera, rather than the full staged alternative, means that Poppea will be focused almost entirely on its musical […]
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Preposterous, outlandish, and ludicrously absurd, Oxford University’s Gilbert & Sullivan Society’s production of the comic opera Iolanthe is a hilariously entertaining show that will keep audiences in stitches from start to finish. Masterfully directed by Zoe Firth, the performance is a rollicking musical romp among the dimwitted and incompetent ruling class. Poking fun at British […]
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Since 1993, opera director and producer Ellen Kent has been turning the tables on public perceptions of what opera is. Known and loved for their traditional staging, lavish sets and international cast, over six million people have now seen an Ellen Kentproduction. Each year, she tours three productions all around the UK and Ireland, and […]
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✮✮✮✮ This week St Peter’s Chapel has been transformed into a beautiful, enchanting, Ancient Greece for the production of Henry Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas. For anyone unconvinced about the suitability of a chapel for a staged opera please let me reassure you: the setting was absolutely stunning, and I cannot think of a better place […]
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