From the 19th of July the Grimeborn Opera Festival returns for the 16th year. With a dynamic and vibrant mix of traditional favourites and radical interpretations of stories from across the globe, Grimeborn 2023 is set to be the most exciting yet!
“Every year it is a joy to bring ambitious and adventurous Opera to contemporary audiences at the Arcola Theatre. We’re passionate about making Opera accessible to all. Grimeborn allows us to do that with programming from both classical and radical thought-provoking artists and companies from across the continent and some of the most affordable ticket prices in the UK.”
Arcola Artistic Director Mehmet Ergen
Save when you book multiple shows!
2 shows – 10% off
3 shows – 15% off
4 shows – 20% off
5 shows – 25% off
6 shows – 30% off
The Merry Wives of Windsor
Music by Otto Nicolai, Story by William Shakespeare
This is a battle – between genders and between generations, for power, love, and respect. Queer Voices have created a burlesque, exuberant comic-opera performance with fearless casting…..crossing the boundaries between audience and performers….A guerilla opera, abolishing archaic, operatic hierarchy, experimenting and challenging traditional gender roles in the play.
Read More
Read More
No For An Answer
An Opera by Marc Blitzstein
Set in a Greek-American social club at times of austerity, cost of living crisis and rising unemployment, ‘No For An Answer’ was written in 1941 but speaks to the present with terrifying prescience and will demonstrate the compassion and farsightedness of Blitzstein and speak to a modern British audience. This will be the European premiere of No For An Answer by Marc Blitzstein, directed by the Arcola Theatre's Artistic Director Mehmet Ergen, a pioneer of Blitzstein's oeuvre in Britain. American composer Blitzstein, a gay man murdered in 1964, won national attention in 1937 with the pro-union musical ‘The Cradle Will
Read More
Read More
La Cenerentola
By Gioachino Rossini
Barefoot Opera are known for physicalised, ensemble storytelling and integrated music making. In this production of Rossini’s fabulously comic tale, the ill treated Cinders wins her prince through her kind behaviour.
Read More
Read More
Trouble in Tahiti
By Leonard Bernstein
In a seemingly utopian suburbia, Sam and Dinah are unhappily married. Both escape from their dysfunctional home scene through work, the gym and going to the movies. However, with their young son Junior in the house, both are forced to address their growing isolation for the good of the family. In this production of Trouble in Tahiti, dancers will physically represent the jazz trio who play the role of the Greek chorus in Bernstein's short satire of the American dream.
Read More
Read More
LOYOLA
Composed by Domenico Zipoli
The UK stage premiere of this long-lost baroque opera by Jesuit composer Domenico Zipoli. Originally written around 1720 for performance by Indigenous musicians on the Jesuit missions in Latin America, the score was recently discovered in the Archives of Chiquitos in Bolivia. One of the first operas to emerge from the melting pot of Hispanic and Native cultures, LOYOLA combines the sounds of Europe’s 18th century with Indigenous tradition. LOYOLA is brought to Grimeborn by El Parnaso Hyspano: an ensemble led by Inca tenor Rafael Montero, dedicated to authentic performances of the Latin American baroque. This musical and cultural integrity
Read More
Read More
The Portrait of Manon / L’Heure Espagnole
Sung in English with libretti by Lindsay Bramley
“What next?” is a question not often asked in opera. Will Rodolfo ever love again? Can Guglielmo and Fiordiligi’s marriage really succeed? Do the Rhinemaidens need better terms and conditions this time…?
Read More
Read More
Céphale et Procris
Opera by Élisabeth Jacquet de la Guérre
4-star production by Ensemble OrQuesta - ‘A Baroque Opera Company for the 21st Century’ - directed by Marcio da Silva: Composed by French female composer Élisabeth-Claude Jacquet de La Guerre, this UK premiere production revives this forgotten opera and explores the timeless tensions of gender inequality. A story that shows how French Baroque Opera can be relevant today: Beautiful singing, Baroque Instruments, Minimalist setting, Symbolism, Physical Theatre ★★★★ 'Eloquent: Musical and dramatic integrity spiced with invention'. Claire Seymour - The Stage ★★★★ 'a thoroughly engrossing and absorbing evening' - Tim Hochstrasser, Plays to See Content warning: scenes with subtle implications
Read More
Read More
Jane Eyre
After a triumphant run of Bluebeard’s Castle at Grimeborn 2022 (***** British Theatre), Green Opera, the first environmentally-sustainable opera company, returns to Grimeborn with the first stage production of John Joubert’s moving adaptation of Charlotte Brontë’s classic novel. Featuring a diverse cast in a dynamic new staging, this production explores the enduring struggle for freedom in a world that refuses to accept the individual.
Read More
Read More
Brontë the Opera
Lisa Logan’s Opera based on the play by Polly Teale
The world premiere of a compelling literary detective story about the turbulent lives of the Brontë sisters - based upon an acclaimed play by Polly Teale. In 1845, Branwell Brontë returns home in disgrace, plagued by his addictions. As he descends into alcoholism and insanity, bringing chaos to the household, his sisters write… Polly Teale's powerful play, adapted as an opera by composer Lisa Logan, evokes the real and imagined worlds of the Brontës, as their fictional characters Jane Eyre, Rochester, Cathy, Nelly and Heathcliff come to haunt their creators.
Read More
Read More
The Mikado
By Gilbert & Sullivan
The award winning “masters of Gilbert & Sullivan in small spaces”, Charles Court Opera, present their intimate, highly successful 5 star London production of the most loved of Gilbert and Sullivan’s comic operas, The Mikado. The scheming Lord High Executioner is about to hatch one plot too far, with far-reaching and hilarious consequences for everyone involved, especially when the ruler himself arrives… Gilbert's pen was rarely sharper than when he wrote this punchy, lively satire, which contains familiar songs by Sullivan, including ”I’ve got a little list” and “The sun whose rays”, that are by turns toe-tapping and sumptuous. Presenting this
Read More
Read More
Image by Idil Sukan