Bizet’s famous opera reimagined for London life today.
Baseless Fabric announce free street performances across South London and a run at the Arcola Theatre’s Grimeborn Festival this August.
Critically acclaimed street opera company Baseless Fabric will present 10 free street performances of Carmen reimagined this summer on the high streets of South London from 4th – 21st August 2022.
The piece will also be presented at the Arcola Theatre from 9th – 13th August 2022 as part of Grimeborn Festival in Studio 1 at 7pm.
Following the success of 2019’s sell-out Die Fledermaus (★★★★ The Guardian, ★★★★ The Stage) and their recent Cosi Fan Tutte, which was an Off West End Award Finalist for Best Opera Production, Baseless Fabric return this August with their new production of Carmen. With a re-imagined score for violin, accordion and bassoon by acclaimed young composer Leo Geyer of Bizet’s famous tunes and a colloquial contemporary English libretto by director and librettist Joanna Turner, this daring new production places Bizet’s characters directly on today’s high street:
Supermarket check-out girl Carmen brazenly flirts with the new security guard Don Jose, much to the confusion and embarrassment of his fiancée Micaela. Things get even more complicated as Carmen’s ex-boyfriend turned TikTok celebrity Escamillo also shows up. Follow the characters’ entangled love stories in this bold contemporary re-imagining of the classic Carmen story for London life today.
This original high street adaptation will pop up in over 30 locations across Wandsworth & Merton including cafes, pubs and supermarkets to give local people the chance to experience opera, who might not ordinarily do so. Baseless Fabric’s performances aim to change attitudes to the art form and encourage people to realise that opera can be fun and not elitist, expensive, boring or irrelevant, as it can often be perceived.
LISTING INFORMATION
Street Performances (unticketed, promenade)
Thu 4 Aug 5-6pm Colliers Wood
Fri 5 Aug 1-2pm Mitcham
Fri 5 Aug 5-6pm Roehampton
Thu 18 Aug 5-6pm Wandsworth Town
Fri 19 Aug 11am-12pm Pollards Hill
Fri 19 Aug 5-6pm Clapham Junction
Sat 20 Aug 1-2pm Raynes Park
Sat 20 Aug 5-6pm Wimbledon
Sun 21 Aug 1-2pm Putney
Sun 21sAug 5-6pm Wimbledon Village
Grimeborn Festival
Venue: Arcola Theatre, Studio 1
Dates: Tue 9 to Sat 13 Aug
Time: 7pm
Running time: 60 minutes no interval.
Ticket Prices: from £12 (concessions available)
Presented by Baseless Fabric. Adapted & Directed by Joanna Turner. Music Direction & Arrangements by Leo Geyer
Cast: Felicity Buckland. Jonathan Cooke. Susannah Horowitz. Nick Morris. Claire Wild.
Band: Leo Geyer. Ilona Suomalainen. Louisa Till.
