The King’s Head Theatre Relaunches as London's Little Opera House

London's very first fringe venue, the King's Head Theatre, opened in 1970 in the back room of a Victorian pub in Islington by maverick American Dan?Crawford, was the first pub theatre in England since the days of Shakespeare. Now the creative baton at this legendary venue has been handed over to an award-winning Australian producer-director, Adam Spreadbury-Maher, and his appointment as Artistic Director, heralds major changes.

Spreadbury-Maher - whose other venue, Kilburn's c*ckTavern Theatre, was last November awarded the Peter Brook Empty?Space Dan Crawford Award for his work including a groundbreaking production of "La Bohème" in a pub setting that then transferred for a sell-out season at Soho Theatre - is transforming the?King's?Head into London's Little Opera House - the first new theatre dedicated to opera in the capital for more than 40 years.

His first coup has been to secure Jonathan?Miller, one of the world's leading opera directors, as Patron and Miller will also direct productions at the 120-seat venue. Playwright Mark Ravenhill ("Shopping &?f-ing", "Mother Clapp's Molly House") has been appointed Associate Director, and he'll write and direct two operas at the?King's?Head in 2011. The venue will produce a mixture of reimagined opera classics and will champion and showcase new operas and musicals in late night experimental slots.

Miller told today's Observer newspaper: "We are living in a completely unfair society, many people are very underprivileged in this country, while there are these huge ornamental opera productions being staged. There is something immoral about it." Miller, whose revived modern-dress production of Mozart's Così Fan Tutte is winning critical acclaim at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden this month, wants to find a way to shed the orthodox trappings of the opera house. "There is a strange sort of intimacy if you can get away from the luxurious establishments we have, where people just relish being there because they are rich. There is something about the gigantic, gilded theatres that we associate with opera that is wrong," said Miller, who plans to direct at the new venue in the next season. "In doing operas on a very intimate scale, in front of an audience of a hundred at the most, you renovate them," said Miller, who hopes to stage a new production of Berg's Lulu at the pub venue. "In this time of great cuts, I have real misgivings about throwing pearls before pearls," he explained. "I like it when you can put opera into a setting where it is not all about people luxuriating in displays of their wealth."

Spreadbury-Maher who himself originally trained as a tenor, said: "This marks an end to the distinguished Crawford family artistic leadership and the start of the next phase in the King's Head's great history. "The?King's?Head, as London's Little Opera House, will be an alternative to ENO and Covent Garden, and will create a new generation of audiences, composers and performers."

He told The Observer: "Opera has died and we need to perform CPR on it. "There is a massive everyman audience out there and we have got to take it to them." Like Miller, the Australian had been struck by the restrictive formality and distance between opera audiences and the stage. "At worst, it can be almost like going to a wedding, with everyone sitting still. It is a charade. Audiences need a kick in the guts, or at least a thump on the heart. Otherwise they should just stay at home and listen to a CD."

Spreadbury-Maher, through his OperaUpClose company, is dedicated to presenting new, challenging and classic operas in intimate spaces using young world-class trained singers and directors. He formed the company to bring opera to life for new audiences, and to offer the extraordinary opportunity to experience the dramatic and musical event of opera up close. OperaUpClose has been resident opera company at The c*ckTavern Theatre.

The opening production is The Barber of Seville (or Salisbury), which runs from Wednesday 6 October to Saturday 13 November. Press night is Thursday October 14 at 7.15pm. Other projects will include a stunning new version of "Madam Butterfly" and two UK premieres of Phillip Glass operas.

The Barber of Seville (or Salisbury) transports one of the greatest musical comedies ever written, Rossini's "The Barber of Seville" to Jane Austen's England, a world of rich, eligible bachelors, feisty heroines and snobbish relations familiar from much-loved BBC costume dramas. Obsequious Doctor Bartleby has designs on his ward Rosina, but she is far more interested in the attentions of a handsome stranger (actually a womanising Count in disguise). The whole affair is stage-managed by Figaro, the barber who knows everyone's business and can fix your hair and love life with ease.

The Barber of Seville (or Salisbury) reunites director and translator Robin Norton-Hale with many of her "La Bohème" cast, including Belinda Evans as Rosina (sharing the role with Rowan Hellier), Gareth Morris as the Count (also played by Philip Lee), while Dickon Gough and John Savournin flex their comedic muscles as Doctor Bartleby. This adaptation is sung in a new English translation which will make the show witty and accessible to modern audiences, while nodding to the style and mannerisms of Regency England. This adaptation offers a fresh take on the original for opera fans and a slick, funny introduction for those who thought opera wasn't for them. Musical director Alison Luz leads from the piano. Alison has worked with companies British Youth Opera, Scottish Opera, Opera Fringe, English National Opera and Opera North.

The Barber of Seville (or Salisbury) is produced by Adam Spreadbury-Maher, Ben Cooper and Dominic Haddock for OperaUpClose.

Adam Spreadbury-Maher is Artistic Director of The c*ckTavern Theatre and King's Head Theatre and their resident companies Good Night Out Presents and OperaUpClose. He won an Australia Critics' Circle Award (2004) for his production of Jonathan Harvey's Beautiful Thing. Recent credits include: revivals by Stephen Fry and Nick Ward (both at The c*ckTavern Theatre); Studies for a Portrait (The White Bear, Oval House and King's Head Theatres),The York Realist (Riverside Studios) and the UK premiere of the landmark Australian play Hotel Sorrento (The c*ckTavern Theatre). He was associate director on Holding the Man (Traflagar Studios). He is currently directing Peter Gill's The Sleepers Den at Riverside Studios, which he will follow by directing a new play by Edward Bond at The c*ckTavern Theatre in November.

Director and Translator Robin Norton-Hale studied English at Oxford University and trained at The King's Head Theatre on their Resident Assistant Director programme. Opera directing credits include: La Boheme (OperaUpClose); Spirit of Vienna (English Touring Opera); Pimpinone (Colourhouse Theatre); Revival Director on Ariodante (English Touring Opera); Assistant Director on Katya Kabonova and The Abduction from the Seraglio (both English Touring Opera). Theatre directing credits include: Best Man Speech (UK tour), Live Canon (Northcott and Greenwich Theatres) and Pick 'n' Myths (Lyric Hammersmith and UK tour); Associate Director on Cloudcuckooland (Edinburgh Fringe, UK and European Tour) and Assistant Director on Sweet Charity (Theatre Royal, Drury Lane). Robin is joint Artistic Director of OperaUpClose.

Musical Director Alison Luz studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in solo piano, accompaniment and as a repetiteur. As an accompanist she has performed in venues including the Purcell Room, Barbican, Holywell Music Room, Edinburgh and Bath Festivals and has been a member of staff at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and for various summer courses including Académie Internationale d'Eté de Nice, European Chamber Opera and Hand Made Opera. Following her repetiteur studies at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Alison was the recipient of the MBF's RSAMD/Scottish Opera Repetiteur Fellowship, before commencing her studies at the National Opera Studio. As a repetiteur she has worked for companies including British Youth Opera, Scottish Opera, Opera Fringe, English National Opera and Opera North. Future plans include acting as Pianist/Music Director for Scottish Opera's Opera Highlights Tour.

www.kingsheadtheatre.org

Box office: 0844 477 1000

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