OperaUpClose
Encyclopedia
OperaUpClose is a resident opera company at the Kings Head Theatre London (also called "London's little opera house". It started at The Cock Tavern Theatre
in the Kilburn area of London, notable for its debut production there, a modern adaptation of Puccini's La bohème
. La bohème opened on 8 December 2009, and ran for five months, making it one of the longest-running continuously performed productions of La bohème. The production, featuring a new translation by its director Robin Norton-Hale, was noted for its relocation of the audience to the pub area of The Cock Tavern for the second act, using the pub and its customers to represent the opera's Café Momus. Using a single pianist instead of the traditional full orchestra, minimal sets, and a cast of young singers at the very start of their careers resulted in ticket prices which were a fraction of the cost of full productions in London's opera houses.
The OperaUpClose La bohème transferred to the Soho Theatre for a further 5 week run from 27 July 2010 and was the first opera to play at the theatre since its opening. The Soho Theatre production won the 2011 Olivier Award for best new opera production.
The Cock Tavern Theatre
The Cock Tavern Theatre was a multi-award winning pub theatre located in the heart of Kilburn in the north-west of London. The venue specialised in new works and critical revivals...
in the Kilburn area of London, notable for its debut production there, a modern adaptation of Puccini's La bohème
La bohème
La bohème is an opera in four acts,Puccini called the divisions quadro, a tableau or "image", rather than atto . by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on Scènes de la vie de bohème by Henri Murger...
. La bohème opened on 8 December 2009, and ran for five months, making it one of the longest-running continuously performed productions of La bohème. The production, featuring a new translation by its director Robin Norton-Hale, was noted for its relocation of the audience to the pub area of The Cock Tavern for the second act, using the pub and its customers to represent the opera's Café Momus. Using a single pianist instead of the traditional full orchestra, minimal sets, and a cast of young singers at the very start of their careers resulted in ticket prices which were a fraction of the cost of full productions in London's opera houses.
The OperaUpClose La bohème transferred to the Soho Theatre for a further 5 week run from 27 July 2010 and was the first opera to play at the theatre since its opening. The Soho Theatre production won the 2011 Olivier Award for best new opera production.
External links
- Dromi, Uri, "From romance, to war, to Mammon. An unforgettable holiday sampling of the bounty of London's stages", HaaretzHaaretzHaaretz is Israel's oldest daily newspaper. It was founded in 1918 and is now published in both Hebrew and English in Berliner format. The English edition is published and sold together with the International Herald Tribune. Both Hebrew and English editions can be read on the Internet...
, 8 April 2010. - Moss, Stephen, "OperaUpClose: Puccini in the pub", The GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, 3 December 2009 (contains production photos) - Shore, Robert, "OperaUpClose takes Puccini to a pub. Now that really is bohemian", The TimesThe TimesThe Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
, 27 December 2009 - Cock Tavern Theatre official website
- What's On Wales Interview