The Duenna
Presented by English Touring Opera
A comic opera by Richard Brinsley Sheridan
Music by Thomas Linley
Directed by Michael Barker-Caven
Designed by Adam Wiltshire
Monday 18th - Tuesday 19th October
English Touring Opera returns with a comic opera which has deep roots in the local area. In 1775, two notable residents of Bath completed the score for a comic opera that would go on to create theatrical history. Over the next twenty-five years, The Duenna became England’s most performed opera, with box office takings establishing the fortunes of the Covent Garden Theatre. Byron declared it to be the “best opera ever written” and Dr Johnson called it “one of the two best comedies of the age”.
Bath was also the setting for the (very public) scandal that formed the basis for the work’s central plot. Richard Brinsley Sheridan, the playwright, had eloped with composer Thomas Linley’s daughter Elizabeth, a Bath beauty and a celebrated soprano. Just months later, Sheridan was writing an opera about a society elopement in The Duenna! Thomas Linley himself was commissioned to write the arias, one-by-one, unaware of the play’s subject. His nineteen year old son, a great hope for British music who died aged twenty two, helped in writing many of these songs.
For this rare performance, English Touring Opera has assembled a strong cast featuring artists of both the opera and theatre stages, including Richard Suart, Adrian Thompson and Nuala Willis, accompanied by a period orchestra. Sheridan’s only opera will be directed by Michael Barker Caven, best known for his award winning stage work in Ireland.
“One of the most innovative companies in the country” – Observer
| Evenings | £21.50 | £27.50 | £31.00 | £33.00 | £35.00 |
Please note that, due to the staging of some productions, the Grand Circle may be restricted view
Performance Times
Evenings: 7.30pm
Pre-show talk in the 1805 Rooms: Monday & Tuesday 6.30pm
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