24.06.2025
Forget what you thought you knew about Opera: this is the future.
Four 20 minute contemporary operas premiere at Buxton International Festival.
Shorts, commissioned by Buxton International Festival, brings together seven award winning writers and composers from the worlds of jazz, folk, classical and contemporary theatre to create a compelling series of short operas which tell relevant and contemporary stories; a fresh take on the artform.
Manchester based Carmel Smickersgill and Sunday Times Playwright Award Winner Josh Overton kick off this emotional and innovative narrative journey with Inevitable.
In a stark, unremarkable office overshadowed by the doomsday clock, three generations of humans labour over a rusty old crank. Giving their lives to keep the world ticking, until the creeping doubt of an inevitable end sparks. Expect gallows humor and raw emotion as the clock ticks on.
Next, BBC Folk Award Winner, Martin Green presents Life Gets Stretched, a love story. In a time of war. A couple meet, fall in love, and marry. But life is long and people change, will their bond prove strong enough? With folk influences and a strong, physical theatre energy this is a story of change and growing apart. Martin Green’s ‘invented’ language taps into a universal form of communication, allowing the music and the emotion to take you away.
Disorderly House recounts the real life story from 1927. In Fitzroy Square, London, sensational dancer Bobby Britt hosts an exuberant get together for his bohemian guests. A party in full swing. Britt treats his guests to a performance of Salome’s Dance of the Seven Veils, behind closed doors. But, the entertainment crashes down when the police raid and he is arrested for keeping a ‘disorderly house’. Join us for this celebration of LGBTQ+ history and the pioneering individuals that would otherwise be forgotten. The opera is performed in English and Polari (a hidden language primarily spoken by gay men in Britain).
And finally, jazz, gospel and opera star Thandanani Gumede (Opera North, Manchester Jazz Festival, Zulu Tradition) and Zodwa Nyon, Zimbabwean-born writer for theatre (Royal Exchange, Leeds Playhouse & Tiata Fahodzi, Kiln Theatre), radio and TV (Channel 4, BBC, Netflix), have teamed up to create Tears Are Not Meant to Stay Inside.
In a modern world, this opera explores whether we can still find deep connections to our spiritual heritage? An uplifting, emotional joyous experience will enhance your senses and engulf you in a blend of classical opera and traditional African sounds. Performed in Zulu and Ndebele.
The operas are directed by Marcus Desando and Rebecca Melzer and designed by Eliott Squire.
Helen Goodman from Buxton International Festival said:
“We are excited to be working with a creative team of such incredible calibre. In their respective fields of the arts they have already produced work of incredible quality and creative vision. Together, using opera as their medium of expression, we think that the possibilities are limitless. They will express stories that will take audiences to the limits of their emotions and demonstrate the enduring power of opera in a modern context.”
‘This commission is just an example of Buxton International Festival’s commitment to presenting world class opera and to inviting audiences to experience new and challenging theatrical experiences.”
Shorts will be at the Pavilion Arts Centre in Buxton from 13 – 25 July. Tickets are £45 or £10 for under 35s who are part of the Next Gen friends scheme.
Book tickets at https://buxtonfestival.co.uk/whats-on/shorts
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