Pop-Up Opera comes to Devon

After performing their first ever tragedy this Spring, Pop-Up Opera return to comedy for their Summer Season 2016.

Pop-Up Opera challenge the way opera is traditionally performed, by taking it into unusual spaces and making it fun, fresh and intimate. Rossini's famous opera buffa Il Barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville) is brought to life by the critically acclaimed company, sung in Italian with English captions.

Pop-Up Opera take to the stage with this incredibly fast-paced comical farce in their adaptation of this much loved score. Witness razor-sharp timing as the ever resourceful barber, Figaro, tries to help the young Count Almaviva win the hand of the beautiful Rosina out of love rather than for his wealth. Soon the pair set about to produce many disguises for the count, and thus the farce ensues…

Rossini’s sparkling comic opera is given a ‘make-under’ in James Hurley’s daringly unfussy staging, laying bare the characters in all their glorious eccentricity.

Pop-up Opera will be touring to some new and exciting venues this season Leeds Castle, the Spirella Ballroom at Letchworth (the building used to be the Spirella Corset Factory in Victoria era!) and Broome Farm (where Pop-Up Opera began).

Company Director Clementine Lovell comments “This is exciting for us as it really embraces the kind of spaces we go to and the nature of what we do. The opera is so well known, and this will be a wholly different way of approaching it.”

The Times describes it as a “two-hour explosion of beautiful music, top-class singing, and exceptional acting... I honestly cannot imagine anyone, of any age or class or tastes, who would have been bored or unmoved.”

The combination of amazing venues, along with an informal atmosphere and engaging productions, offers a greater connection to the singers and the music, something even seasoned opera-goers often miss. If Pop-up Opera pops up near you, do pop in.

Il Barbiere di Siviglia will be preformed at The Corn Barn in Cullompton on 30th June.

Full details can be found at www.popupopera.co.uk