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Alice in Wonderland

St. Mary’s Church, Leamington Spa, 3-4 May, 7:30pm  £9 (Concession: £7)

St. Paul’s Church, Covent Garden, London   May 5   7.30pm  £12 (Concession: £10 ,with Family Package of 2 adults and 2 children under 14 at £38)

Bookings: 0845 680 1926

Billled as ‘accessible opera for a (rabbit) whole new audience’ Opera Warwick’s new production of Lewis Carroll’s classic tale is Alice as you have never seen her before.

The show uses an original script written by Samuel Worthington– currently completing his masters degree in English, and features familiar songs in unexpected situations from composers as diverse as Verdi and Sondheim  in English translation by the show’s artistic director and current Warwick History and Italian undergraduate Harriet Birchall

The 35 strong cast features some of the university’s current opera scholars, working with students who simply love to sing – and features 9 different nationalities in cast and crew demonstrating Warwick’s proud international pedigree.

And they are turning the show’s dress rehearsal into performance workshops for  schools close to venues in Leamington and North London  - after which youthful participants will have a chance to buy cut price tickets for the real thing.

“We are hoping to bring Opera to a whole or rather (rabbit ) hole, new audience, so we want to start with children who have no preconceived notions of it – and just love a great story and some brilliant tunes and will be encourage to attend with their parents, “ said show director and English student Nick Cherryman.

Artistic director Harriet Birchall said the idea was to use the familiar story of Alice to showcase some of opera’s great songs – suitably adapted to fit her adventures in Wonderland. “Like the Knave of Hearts, we’ve let all the great composers do all the hard work, and then pinched the very best of them. Opera can be magnificent, but quite daunting , but our adaptation of Alice shows that it can also be fun.”

The show is supported by The Lord Rootes Memorial Fund, which was set up to support challenging and creative projects at the University. “We couldn’t be more grateful for the financial support that is helping us bring Opera to audiences in such an affordable way” said Opera Warwick president Ben Hamilton.   “It is the society – and the University’s main aim – to offer excellence which is accessible to all”.

Interview opportunities:

Artistic Director/translator – Harriet Birchall

Director – Nick Cherryman

Musical Director – Rory Carver

Librettist – Samuel Worthington

Alice – Giulia Boggiano

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For further information please contact Sophia Chan