Arcola Theatre's Grimeborn Opera Festival to Return for 16th Year This Summer

Arcola Theatre has announced the full programme of productions in the 2023 Grimeborn Opera Festival, which is returning for its 16th year.

The Festival centrepiece is the European premiere of Marc Blitzstein's 'No For An Answer' (26 - 29 July), directed by Arcola Theatre's Artistic Director Mehmet Ergen.

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.

American composer Blitzstein, a gay man murdered in 1964, won national attention in 1937 with the pro-union musical 'The Cradle Will Rock', also directed by Mehmet Ergen as Arcola's 10th Anniversary production. It was originally directed by Orson Welles.

Leonard Bernstein, a close friend, said that Blitzstein's contribution to the American musical theatre was "incalculable". Blitzstein is also known for his off-Broadway translation/adaptation of 'The Threepenny Opera' by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill, the opera 'Regina', an adaptation of Lillian Hellman's play 'The Little Foxes' and the Broadway musical 'Juno', based on Seán O'Casey's play 'Juno and the Paycock'.

Arcola Artistic Director Mehmet Ergen said: "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."

SEASON IN FULL

STUDIO 1

Merry Wives of Windsor

19 - 22 July
all performances 7.30pm
Queer Voices (Skeive Stemmer), Norway's first officially queer opera, has created a performance-opera, highlighting the conflict and power-play between the sexes, and challenging traditional gender roles, while retaining the comedy, intrigue and drama.

No For An Answer

26 - 29 July
all performances 7.30pm
Arcola Theatre's Artistic Director Mehmet Ergen and Composer John Jansson will join forces to revive this forgotten text and score for the European premiere of 'No For An Answer'. 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.

La Cenerentola

1 - 5 August
all performances 7.30pm
Barefoot Opera presents a world where Alice in Wonderland meets Tik Tok in this physical theatre take on Cinderella: Rossini's Cenerentola features wannabe influencers and their posturing dad trashing the planet while Cinders finds her Prince.

Trouble in Tahiti

9 - 12 August
all performances 7.30pm
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, dancers physically represent the jazz trio who play the role of the Greek chorus in
Bernstein's short satire of the American dream.

Loyola

11-12 August
both performances 8.45pm
El Parnaso Hyspano presents The UK stage premiere of Zipoli's long-lost baroque opera. Written for
performance by Indigenous musicians on the Jesuit missions in Bolivia, 'LOYOLA' is by turns comic,
impassioned and deeply spiritual.

A&E - world premiere

15 - 19 August
all performances 7.30pm
When Adam meets Eve at the A&E ward of Homerton Hospital it's love at first radiography but a cheeky boy will tempt Adam to download Tinder and that will change everything... 'A&E' is the debut opera of the iconoclastic creative tandem Muelas+Ward. A librettist and a composer, a director and a producer who want to make opera for people who are normally scared of opera.

Turandot

23 - 26 August
Wednesday - Saturday at 7.30pm, Saturday matinee at 3.30pm
A radical and unnervingly relevant reinterpretation of 'Turandot'. A British East & Southeast Asian
company confronts Puccini's last opera exposing the harmful tragedy of online obsession.

Cephale et Procris

29 August - 2 September
Tuesday - Saturday at 7.30pm, Saturday matinee at 2.30pm
A story that shows how French Baroque Opera can be relevant today: Beautiful singing, Baroque
instruments, minimalist setting, symbolism, physical theatre.

Jane Eyre

6 - 9 September
all performances at 7.30pm
After a triumphant run of 'Bluebeard's Castle' at Grimeborn 2022 (***** British Theatre), Green
Opera, the first environmentally-sustainable opera company, returns with the first staged
production of John Joubert's moving and dynamic adaptation of Charlotte Brontë's classic novel.

Brontë - world premiere

12 (preview) 13, 15 & 16 September
all performances 7.30pm
A compelling literary detective story about the turbulent lives of the Brontë sisters based upon an acclaimed play by Polly Teale, adapted as an opera by composer Lisa Logan (premiere).

The Mikado

19 - 21 & 23 September
Tuesday - Saturday at 7.30pm, Saturday matinee at 3.30pm
Charles Court Opera, "the masters of G&S in small spaces" present their stylish, intimate, highly
successful 5-star production of the most loved of Gilbert and Sullivan's comic operas, 'The Mikado'.

STUDIO 2

Portrait of Manon & L'Heure Espagnole

22 - 26 August
Tuesday - Saturday at 7pm, Relaxed Saturday matinee at 3pm
Love can be longed for, but is too quickly lost. In this double bill, love is examined from both of these angles - regretful heartache at what has been, and frustrated desire at what could be.

ARCOLA THEATRE

Arcola Theatre was founded by Mehmet Ergen and Leyla Nazli in September 2000. Originally located in a former textile factory on Arcola Street in Dalston, in January 2011 the theatre moved to its current location in a former paint-manufacturing workshop on Ashwin Street. In 2021, they opened an additional outdoor performance space just around the corner from the main building: Arcola Outside. Arcola Theatre produces daring, high-quality theatre in the heart of East London and beyond. They commission and premiere exciting, original works alongside rare gems of world drama and bold new productions of classics. Their socially engaged, international programme champions diversity, challenges the status quo, and attracts over 65,000 people to their building each year. Ticket prices are some of the most affordable in London.

Every year, they offer 26 weeks of free rehearsal space to culturally diverse and refugee artists; their Grimeborn Festival opens up opera with contemporary stagings at affordable prices; and their Participation department creates thousands of creative opportunities for the people of Hackney and beyond. Their pioneering environmental initiatives are award-winning and aim to make Arcola the world's first carbon-neutral theatre.

Arcola has won awards including the UK Theatre Award for Promotion of Diversity, The Stage Award for Sustainability and the Peter Brook Empty Space Award.

Photo credti: Idil Sukan

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