Opera North returns to Hull New Theatre with festival of Little Greats
Performances will be the first by the company at the venue in more than a decade
Following its £16m refurbishment, Hull New Theatre is to host Opera North’s acclaimed festival of short operas, The Little Greats, later this month.
The Leeds company will return to the newly-reopened venue for the first time in more than a decade from Thursday, October 26 to Saturday, October 28, presenting five brand new productions in innovative double bills and a family-friendly matinee.
From red-blooded Italian classics to the jazzy 1950s satire of Bernstein’s Trouble in Tahiti, The Little Greats showcases the incredible breadth of opera, offering the perfect introduction to the art form for newcomers, together with some daring adaptations and rarely-performed gems for aficionados.
Allowing audiences the chance to experience all of the power and passion of opera in a shorter, bite-sized format, there are £5 children’s tickets available for the family matinee of Ravel’s enchanting The Child and the Magic Spells (L’enfant et les sortilèges) and £10 tickets for double bills for anyone aged 19 to 30.
A double dose of Italian passion, violent revenge and tragedy raises the curtain on the season. Staged as a darkly knowing exploration of the fine line between art and life, Pagliacci opens in a rehearsal room as an opera company is preparing for a show. But real-life passions are roiling beneath the greasepaint and as the crowd gathers for the performance the stage becomes the scene of a bloody reckoning.
Mascagni’s gritty drama of betrayal, jealousy and vengeance, Cavalleria rusticana follows, featuring gorgeously lyrical melodies including the famous Intermezzo, familiar from its use in The Godfather and Raging Bull. Young Polish director Karolina Sofulak has transplanted this classic Italian opera to a less familiar setting though: her home country in the late-1970s, complete with an iconic Fiat 126 and echoes of classic Polish cinema.
On Friday, October 27 Bernstein’s deeply moving Trouble in Tahiti takes a look at the dark side of the American Dream with a dazzling fusion of Broadway, Hollywood and jazz steeped in 1950s glamour. An early Gilbert & Sullivan gem, Trial by Jury concludes the evening in hilarious, topsy-turvy style with all of the duo’s trademarks: satirical wit, catchy tunes and an ingenious plot which refuses to turn out quite as expected.
Ravel’s surreal and utterly charming The Child and the Magic (L’enfant et les sortilèges) is performed as a matinee on Saturday, October 28, with acute examinations of the pleasures and pains of growing up, characters including a Grandfather Clock, a Tea Pot and an Armchair — and a heartwarming resolution — all packed into a running time of just 45 minutes. Younger visitors and their families can also get an introduction to the story in a fun, interactive workshop in the theatre’s Circle Bar before the performance.
On Saturday evening, the grown-up excesses of Pagliacci and Cavalleria rusticana return to the stage to close the run in flamboyant style.
Opera North will also be reaching beyond the stage during their week in Hull, with a free Whistle Stop Opera for audiences of all ages at The Octagon Centre on the Thornton Estate on Tuesday, October 24.
Devised and narrated by John Savournin, the director of Trial by Jury, the performance compresses the power of opera even more tightly into a half-hour packed with laughter, deceit, love and tragedy. Arias featured in The Little Greats, plus classics including Nessun dorma, chart the comic ups and downs of a young couple (soprano Elin Pritchard, who sings the role of Nedda in Pagliacci, and baritone Milo Harries).
The performance will celebrate the start of Opera North’s new partnership with The Goodwin Trust to run regular weekly music-making and singing sessions for residents of the Thornton Estate. Opera North’s Education department has operated groundbreaking community residency programmes in schools in Bransholme since 2013 but this new initiative will allow people of all ages to participate in open access workshops in a long-term arts participation project on one of the city’s largest and most diverse estates.
The Child and the Magic Spells family workshop will also visit the estate on Thursday, October 26, giving residents the chance to find out more about the opera before they attend the matinee on Saturday, October 28.
The Little Greats marks Opera North’s third visit to the city as part of Hull UK City of Culture 2017. The Height of the Reeds, the company’s sound walk for the Humber Bridge, ran at full capacity for its entire duration between April and June this year and their concert staging of Puccini’s Turandot sold out at Hull City Hall in May.
Richard Mantle, General Director, Opera North, said: “We’re delighted to be returning to the revitalised Hull New Theatre after more than ten years away and to have the opportunity to present our adventurous new season in the city.
“Following on from an incredibly warm reception for Turandot, The Little Greats is a season which really does demonstrate the diversity of operatic style, and the indomitable company spirit which is at the heart of everything we do.
“Having worked with the very youngest generations in the area for the past few years, we’re excited to return to full scale performance in Hull in the year of the City of Culture.”
Opera North’s season of short operas, The Little Greats, comes to Hull New Theatre from Thursday 26 October. Tickets for double bills are from £16.50 to £44 or just £10 for 19 to 30 year-olds. Tickets for the matinee of The Child and the Magic Spells are available from £10 to £27.50 with children’s tickets just £5.
The Little Greats season is supported by the Garfield Weston Foundation. Opera North’s work in Hull is supported by Arts Council England, Mrs Maureen Pettman and the late Professor Barrie Pettman and the University of Hull. Opera North’s Education programme in Hull is supported by The Liz and Terry Bramall Foundation, the Opera North Future Fund, The Whitaker Charitable Trust and the William Jackson Food Group. Opera North’s Little Greats tours to Hull New Theatre as part of Hull UK City of Culture 2017.