Forthcoming events

The Beggar's Opera by John Gay

14th - 17th May 2008, Joseph Rowntree Theatre

The first and most famous of ballad operas, The Beggar's Opera is a lively satire of eighteenth century political life, in which beggars, thieves, fences, lawyers, prostitutes and gaolers clash and squabble, in their attempt to worm money out of all and sundry (and each other!).

First performed in 1728, the piece pokes fun at operatic convention by being based on low-life characters - the hero is an amoral highwayman who marries for convenience, pretends to marry two wives simultaneously and is betrayed by his 'so-called' friends.

Written by John Gay, The Beggar's Opera uses songs culled from contemporary songbooks, from other composers and from the traditional folk area.

Click on the banner above to read more about this production. Information about the Joseph Rowntree Theatre can be found by clicking here.

Gilbert & Sullivan's Yeomen of the Guard

21st - 25th October 2008, Theatre Royal, York

"The screw may twist and the rack may turn,
And men may bleed and men may burn."

The Yeomen of the Guard received its first performance in 1888 and was referred to, in later years, by both Gilbert and Sullivan as being their best work. Encouraged to write "more serious" opera by music critics, fashionable friends and even Queen Victoria (!), not only Sullivan was keen to embrace a slightly different style. Gilbert too was eager to move away from his usual realm of "topsy-turvy" and write something that relied on genuine human interest.

Set in the fearsome Tower of London in Tudor England, The Yeomen of the Guard tells the stories of brave Colonel Fairfax, unjustly imprisoned and sentenced to death in the Tower, and two strolling players, Jack Point and Elsie Maynard, whose paths become inextricably intertwined with his.

The opera contains some of Sullivan's most famous ensembles, notably the madrigal, "Strange Adventure".

Auditions will be held for the principal roles in May. Information about audition pieces and booking can be found here.