OperaUpClose was founded in October 2009 by Adam Spreadbury-Maher, Ben Cooper and Robin Norton-Hale for the experiment of producing La Bohème at the Cock Tavern Theatre in Kilburn, a 35-seat theatre above a very rough pub. We had no idea if anyone would come to see the show, or even whether opera singers would be prepared to work in such a gritty, fringe environment.
With equal amounts of delight and trepidation, we fielded requests for press night tickets from an astonishing number of national papers (for most pub theatre shows, it’s a coup to get one national critic in), and watched as tickets for the first fortnight sold out before we’d started previews. We’d clearly hit on something – the question was, would the show live up to it?
Photograph by Adam Levy
Since then, our La Bohème has run for nearly six months at the Cock Tavern (becoming the longest continuously running opera in the UK in the process), had two critically-acclaimed and sold-out runs at Soho Theatre, and won the 2011 Olivier Award for Best Opera Production. It is not false modesty to say we have been astonished – ecstatic, too, of course – at the runaway success of our crazy idea.
In October 2010 OperaUpClose became the resident company at the King’s Head Theatre, re- launching the venue as a high quality off-West End alternative to the ROH and ENO and opening the season with our second production, The Barber of Seville (or Salisbury). We have now produced eight new opera productions here: Barber, Madam Butterfly, Cinderella, Pagliacci, The Coronation of Poppea, The Turn of the Screw, Manifest Destiny and now Fanciulla del West, all in new English versions – including, in Poppea’s case, a libretto by Mark Ravenhill, with a new aria by Michael Nyman.
Developing the careers of young artists is very important to us, and a number of singers we like to think we 'discovered' have gone on to take principal roles at ENO, Grange Park Opera and other large companies, while continuing to work with us. We have ongoing relationships with emerging composers including Danyal Dhondy, Stephen Crowe and Harry Blake, and will soon be cementing our commitment to new opera with the launch of a composition competition. We’ve co- produced two Gilbert & Sullivan operas with another young company, Charles Court Opera, given the first ever opera performances at the music festivals Bestival and Camp Bestival, and become an associate company of Soho Theatre, following La Bohème with our most ambitious production
to date, Don Giovanni, in the summer of 2011.
This year we will tour two of our productions to mid-scale venues around the UK, as well as continuing to give private and charity performances in people’s homes and offices. At the King's Head we'll follow La Fanciulla del West with new productions of Carmen; Robert Saxton and Arnold Wesker’s opera Caritas; Tosca (a co-production with Malmo Opera House), as well as a soon-to-be announced new production at Soho Theatre.
We hope you'll join us for more opera that is exciting, accessible and (of course) up close, very soon.
Adam Spreadbury-Maher & Robin Norton-Hale
Artistic Directors, OperaUpClose
LA BOHÈME
La Bohème opened at The Cock Tavern Theatre on 8 December 2009 and ran sold out for six months until 15 May 2010, with 126 performances. It then transferred to Soho Theatre, opening on 27 July 2010 and running sold out until 4 September 2010. The show returned to its home at The Cock Tavern Theatre for an exclusive three week run in December 2010, to celebrate its first birthday. It returned to Soho Theatre from 10 January - 19 February 2011 for another sell-out season. It won the 2011 Laurence Olivier Award "Best New Opera Production" and the 2011 Whatsonstage.com Award "Best Off-West End Production".
Photograph by Simon Kane
