Performing Arts News

Between 21st –28th June 2016 Glyndebourne’s sell out production Il barbiere di Siviglia will be broadcast to cinemas across the United Kingdom. Directed by Annabel Arden, with set and costumes designed by Joanna Parker, the production has been described as “sheer visual sophistication” by The Independent who awarded it 5 stars. For more details on how to find a screening, please go to the Glyndebourne Website. Watch the Trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grE_t80a81g  

Over the summer season Wyn Davies will be conducting two operas for the New Zealand Opera company, The Magic Flute, opening May 28th and La Traviata, from 14th July. In the UK, The Philharmonia Orchestra opens an exploration of Stravinsky’s Journeys at the Royal Festival Hall on May 26th, directed by Irina Brown. Bill Dudley is designing a new production of Ross, Terence Rattigan’s 1960 play about T.E.Lawrence, opening 3rd June at the Chichester Festival Theatre and the ENO’s production of Jenufa opens 23rd June, with sets designed by Charles Edwards. At the London Almeida Richard III opens June 14th, staring Ralph Fiennes and Vanessa Redgrave, with lighting by Jon Clark. Jon will also be lighting The Exterminating Angel in Salzburg, opening its world premiere July 28th (opening at the ROH, Metropolitan Opera and Det Kolongie Opera in 2017). Also in Salzburg, a new production of Cosi Fan Tutte opens 29th July, with costumes designed by Mark Bouman. In Dublin, Davy Cunningham is lighting The Constant Wife for The Gate Theatre, opening 16th June, followed by Turandot at the Bregenz festival, opening 22nd July. Finally, Chris Ellis will be lighting a reproduction of the Welsh National Opera’s The House of The Dead, opening at the Savonlinna Opera Festival in Finland on 23rd July.

“What happens when an idea to adapt a Shakespeare play into a musical turns out to be a bit more complicated than one thought? A famous director hires his ex-wife, with a strong personality, for the lead role in The Taming of the Shrew. There follows a series of romantic to-ing and fro-ing and amusing misadventures. One of the actors is pursued for his gambling debts right up to the stage by a bunch of gangsters. It’s a play within a play in its finest form, carried by the wonderful songs of Cole Porter.” Opening February 3rd 2016, Kiss Me Kate at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris is directed by Lee Blakeley, with costumes designed by Brigitte Reiffenstuel, sets by Charles Edwards and lighting by Emma Chapman. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fK19ddY1lN0 More information

A new production of Kiss Me Kate will be opening at Theatre du Châtelet, Paris, on 3 February, directed by Lee Blakeley, costumes designed by Brigitte Reiffenstuel, sets by Charles Edwards and lighting designed by Emma Chapman. Back here in the UK a production of L’Etoile, lit by Jon Clarkpremieres 1 February at the Royal Opera House. Over at the National Theatre a new production of Sarah Kane’s Cleansed, designed by Alex Eales, opens on 20 February. For the English National Opera, Charles Edwards has designed the set for a production of Norma, opening 17 February In the United States, there will be several openings over the next few months, beginning with Madama Butterfly at the Los Angeles Opera on 12 March, directed by Lee Blakeley, costumes designed by Brigitte Reiffenstuel with sets by Jean Marc Puissant. This will be followed by the opening of Roberto Devereux on 24 March at The Metropolitan Opera in New York, choreographed by Leah Hausman.