Each summer, Dalston's much-loved Arcola Theatre transforms into a hotbed of bold new operas and intimate revivals of rare classics. Take any opera-related stereotypes you might have and bin them: Grimeborn is all about finding new ways that music and theatre can collide, over a series of up close and personal shows in the Arcola's two intimate brick-walled theatre spaces.
This year's line-up has a focus on dusting off classics for a new audience. It includes a chance to see a slice of Wagner's famous 'Ring Cycle' in an intimate space, and for a fraction of the prices of big opera houses. 'Das Rheingold' documents a power struggle over the precious Rhine gold, and is sung in the original German with English surtitles. The line-up also includes a 21st century reimagining of Strauss's 'Die Fledermaus', and 'Don Jo', in which Arcola's Queer Collective turn Mozart's opera into a futuristic quest for justice.
There are also some welcome chances to escape the classic Western operatic tradition. These include a rare staging of ragtime master Scott Joplin's 'Treemonisha', Amy Beach's Creole opera 'Cabildo', and new work 'Silk Moth', which uses Arabic musical traditions to explore honour crimes. Plus creative one-offs like 'Sane and Sound', a chamber opera which conjures up the world of someone experiencing hallucinations.
For full line-up info, visit Arcola Theatre's website.