Anne Chmelewsky's THE LOOKING SCREEN Operetta Comes to Kings Place, Jan 31

Following its acclaimed premiere at the 2012 Edinburgh Fringe Festival and a sell out performance at the Bush Theatre as part of their RADAR festival in the Autumn, Anne Chmelewsky's comic operetta starring fast rising soprano Clare Presland comes to Kings Place this January.

Meet Annabel Clark, a twenty-seven year old Londoner obsessed with her colleague, SebastIan Smith. Disillusioned by dating mishaps and social awkwardness, Annabel is convinced that the only way for her to be united with the object of her desire is to approach Sebastian online. Empowered and armed with Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter, will Annabel ever get her man?

The Looking Screen is a salutary tale for anyone who ever believed that the road to true love begins with an evening in, an open bottle of wine, a profile page and an innocent online quarry. Annabel Clark is living proof that in a land where communication is king, misunderstanding lurks behind every corner and that the simplest of acts like say, the mere click of a mouse, can set the timer to misery.

Opera meets comedy in this story of our times - a story of the search for true love, of low tactics and of high heels and high Cs. The Looking Screen is produced by Anne Chmelewsky and Charlie Hanson (Extras, Cemetery Junction).

When, in 2009, her opera based on The Office was spotted by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant and featured in their BBC1 fundraising sketch for Comic Relief Anne Chmelewsky won national recognition. She is a French composer, specialising in TV and film music. After completing a degree in Composition at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Anne went on to do a Masters in Composition for Screen at the Royal College of Music.

Suffolk born Mezzo Soprano Clare Presland trained at ENO Opera Works & GSMD. She made an acclaimed debut with English National Opera as the Palestinian Woman in Adams' The Death of Klinghoffer, Broadcast on BBC Radio 3: "Clare Presland (mesmerising) has an intensity that almost sears the flesh" - The Times. Other operatic roles include the title role of Carmen (New Devon Opera); Musetta - La Bohème (Opera UpClose - Olivier Award), Rosina - The Barber of Seville & Suzuki - Madama Butterfly (Opera UpClose); Poulenc's Les Mamelles de Tirésias with Malcolm Martineau, Roger Vignoles (Aldeburgh).!Her current engagements include a return to English National Opera as Margret - Wozzeck, Flora Bervoix - La Traviata and Second Lady - The Magic Flute; Mozart Requiem with the Ten Tors Orchestra and Rossini Stabat Mater with the English Symphony Orchestra

The production will be performed on Thursday, 31 January 2013 at 8:00pm in Hall Two, Kings Place 90, York Way, London, N1 9AG. Box Office: 020 7520 1490. Price: £12.50 / Online Savers £9.50. For more information, visit www.lookingscreen.net, www.annechmelewsky.com, www.clarepresland.net and www.kingsplace.co.uk.

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