Arts diary: Brave new operas for the adventurous at heart…

Published on Wednesday 29 April 2009 22:41

EDINBURGH'S Traverse Theatre, let's face it, is where the in-crowd head for edgy new plays by the likes of David Greig or Gregory Burke, whose new offering, Hoors, below, opens this weekend. But opera?

Trav patrons accustomed to cutting edge theatre should prepare themselves for a shock, because the venue is set to shake to the sound of arias in the months ahead.

Last year Dominic Hill, the Trav's artistic director, directed Falstaff for Scottish Opera. Now SO is making its way to Scotland's new-writing theatre in force. Singers will pull back their voices a little, it's promised, when people are sitting just a metre away in the front row.

Five-15, SO's short new operas "made in Scotland", will arrive in May, and a children's opera, Auntie Janet Saves the Planet, will follow in June. More ambitious still is Letters of a Love Betrayed, based on the Isabel Allende story, and co-produced by SO with Music Theatre Wales, which will be performed in November for one night only.

Hill's success with Falstaff, it seems, has led to a developing relationship with SO's general director, Alex Reedijk.

"Alex sees this as a real opportunity to join new writing together," says a spokeswoman. With a scaled-down orchestra and singers, "it is taking the essence of what opera is and boiling it down". The aim of these projects, apparently, is to attract a new audience of "adventurous attenders".

The rot has set in

Reedijk has been making pointed remarks, both to our classical music critic Kenneth Walton and to the Stage, about the Edinburgh International Festival's decision to keep Scottish Opera out of its programme this year. The EIF had a "duty of care", he suggested to the Stage, that included "a chance to showcase the fine work that goes on in Scotland".

Last festival, SO's production of The Two Widows got decidedly mixed reviews. Reedijk's remarks look like an opening gambit for the 2010 line-up.

Meanwhile Scottish Opera is pressing ahead with another appearance at the Fringe – if a venue can be found. It brought The Secret Marriage to the Assembly Ballroom last year, a space that's currently closed, as dry rot was discovered there.

Screen cach

Secret Screenings, a new monthly film club, will launch simultaneously in London, Brighton and Edinburgh's Cameo Cinema on 2 May, when audiences will turn up for a mystery film.

"It is about creating a different and unusual cinema event," says Fabien Riggall of Future Cinema. "The audience have no idea what they are seeing until the credits roll."

Tae think again…

PERHAPS 40 people sat in a room at the City Chambers in Edinburgh this week for one of the biggest citizenship ceremonies the City Council has hosted. As the soon-to-be Britons sat expectantly, an organ played a familiar tune: Flower of Scotland. "We'll have the rugby team in here next," breathed one bystander. Thankfully no-one was sent home again.