UK Premiere
By Simon Stephens
Directed By Michael Longhurst
Tickets £9 - £36
In the opulent grandeur of a European city, a renowned singer abandons the opera house for the truth of the streets. A gorgeous prostitute. A tough-talking taxi driver. A global trader. A teenage dreamer. Everyone’s looking for something.
Simon Stephens’ strange and beautiful new play reimagines Bizet’s opera Carmen and the possibility of love in a fractured urban world.
Directed by Michael Longhurst (Constellations) the UK Premiere of this play marks the Almeida debut of internationally-renowned writer Simon Stephens (The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Birdland).
“One of the most important and exciting British playwrights working today.”
Karen Fricker, Variety
Monday to Saturday performances 7.30pm
Saturday matinee performances 2.30pm from 18 Apr
Wednesday matinee performances 2.30pm on 22, 29 Apr & 6 May
Talkback
Thu 23 Apr (post-performance)
Captioned Performances
Thu 23 Apr 7.30pm
Sat 2 May 2.30pm
Audio Described Performances
Sat 9 May 2.30pm
(Touch Tour at 12.45pm)
Tue 19 May 7.30pm
(Touch Tour at 6pm)
The Singer
Theatre includes: The Arden of Faversham (RSC); Men Should Weep; The London Cuckolds (National Theatre); Spur of the Moment (Royal Court); Life is A Dream; Threepenny Opera (Donmar Warehouse); The Exonerated (Riverside Studios); Lear (Crucible Theatre, Sheffield); When Harry Met Sally (West End); Green Fields (Traverse Theatre); Insignificance (Chichester Festival Theatre); Armstrong’s Last Goodnight; Travesties; School for Wives (Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh); The Nun (Greenwich Studio Theatre); Suddenly Last Summer (Horseshoe Theatre); Cinderella (Stafford Gatehouse Theatre); Himself (Nuffield Theatre, Southampton); Pinocchio (Unicorn Theatre); Wuthering Heights; Little Shop of Horrors; Red Riding Hood (Saint George’s Theatre); A Comedy of Errors; My Cousin Rachel; A Chorus of Disapproval (Mercury Theatre, Colchester); The Forsyte Saga (Horseshoe Theatre Basingstoke); The Cherry Orchard; Separate Tables; Arsenic and Old Lace; Sailor Beware; The Circle (Pitlochry Festival Theatre); Speed The Plow; Sexual Perversity in Chicago (Cambridge Playhouse); The Broken Jug (Crew Cut Theatre Company).
Television includes: Stonemouth; Death in Paradise; Midsomer Murders; Law and Order; Call the Midwife; Silent Witness; New Tricks; Downton Abbey; Kidnap and Ransom; Marple: Blue Geranium; Murderland; Mistresses; Inspector Lynley Mysteries; Rebus; A Midsummer Night’s Dream; Cutting It; Glasgow Kiss; Sunburn; No Child of Mine; Hamish McBeth; The Bill; Dr Finlay; An Independent Man; Roughnecks; Taggart.
Film includes: Last Chance Harvey; Dear Frankie; About a Boy; Bumping the Odds; Bite; Driven.
No Child Of Mine won the BAFTA for the Best Single Drama in 1998 and Sharon was nominated for Best Actress at the 2007 Satellite Awards for Inspector Lynley Mysteries.
Sharon trained at Mountview Theatre School.
Carmen
Theatre includes: Bang Bang Bang (Royal Court / Out of Joint); Mary Broome (Orange Tree Theatre); Charley’s Aunt; Comedy of Errors (Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester); Love’s Labour’s Lost; Helen; Rome and Juliet (Shakespeare’s Globe); The Odyssey (National Theatre).
Television includes: Poldark; Cilla; Blandings II; Poirot: The Big Four; Da Vinci’s Demons; Blandings; Shakespeare Uncovered: Hamlet; Silk; Dancing on the Edge; Pram Face
Film includes: Burn Burn Burn; The Riot Club.
Radio includes: The School Days of Nigel Molesworth; Dunsinane; Dusty Answer
Jack trained at LAMDA.
Don José
Theatre includes: ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore (SWP / Shakespeare’s Globe); Belong (Royal Court); A Human Being Died That Night (Hampstead Theatre / Fugard Theatre / Market Theatre); Henry V (Michael Grandage Company / West End); Feast (Royal Court / Young Vic); Six Characters in Search of An Author (Chichester Festival Theatre / West End); A Winter’s Tale; Romeo and Juliet; Breakfast with Mugabe; Macbeth (RSC).
Television includes: The Marriage of Reason and Squalor; Midsomer Murders; The Incident; Doctor Who.
Noma won an Olivier Award for Best Supporting Performer in A Raisin in the Sun.
Escamillo
For the Almeida: The Master Builder; Certain Young Men; The Cenci and The Tower.
Theatre includes: Taken At Midnight (Chichester Festival Theatre / Theatre Royal Haymarket);
A Midsummer Night’s Dream; A New World: a Life of Thomas Paine(Shakespeare’s Globe) Luise Miller (Donmar Warehouse); Thom Paine (The Print Room); Julius Caesar; The Tempest; The Seagull; In the Company of Men; A Patriot for Me (RSC); True West (Crucible Theatre, Sheffield); Apologia; Clocks and Whistles; Hedda Gabler (Gate Theatre, Dublin); The Giant; My Boy Jack; The Night Season (National Theatre); Singer (Tricycle Theatre).
Television includes: Atlantis; Fair Cop; Vera; Father Brown; Silk; Endeavour; DCI Banks; Dresden; North And South; Cambridge Spies; Band of Brothers; Love in a Cold Climate; Aristocrats; The Unknown Soldier; Holding On.
Film includes: Albert Nobbs; Scoop; Partition; Heights; The Lion in Winter; Benedict Arnold; Dracula II: Ascension; Five Seconds to Spare; DK2; Trance; Purpose; Investigating Sex; A Rather English Marriage.
Micaëla
Theatre includes: Hamlet; Blind-Sided; Blithe Spirit (Royal Exchange, Manchester); Macbeth (Manchester International Festival / Park Avenue Armory, New York); The Thrill of Love (New Vic Theatre); A Taste of Honey (Crucible Theatre, Sheffield); 65 Miles (Hull Truck Theatre); Vote of Confidence (Theatre503); Punk Rock (Lyric Hammersmith / Royal Exchange, Manchester); Sense (Southwark Playhouse).
Television includes:Doctors; United; Without You.
Katie will also be appearing in the forthcoming film remake of Disney’s Cinderella, directed by Kenneth Branagh.
Chorus
Regarded by many leading critics as an ideal interpreter of the Mezzo Soprano vocal style, Viktoria is one of the few dramatic mezzo-sopranos to have performed to international acclaim. The scope of the vocal colors elicited by the diverse nature of her repertoire has produced an equally varied perception of her vocal range.
Opera includes: Werther (Scottish Opera); Ariadne auf Naxos; Hypolite et Aricie; Hercules; Farnace; Tannhauseri; Carmen (Budapest); Das Rheingold; Gotterdammerung; Die Walkure (Luzern Festival); Don Quichotte (Aarhus);Die lustige Witwe (Miskolc); La Forza del Destino (Luxembourg); Carmen; La Forza del Destino (Gent); Carmen; La Forza del Destino (Antwerpen); Don Quichotte (Cagliari); Carmen (New York Met).
Viktoria Vizin, a Kecskemet (Hungary) native, studied at the Franz Liszt Conservatory in Szeged. She won the International Singing Competition Nicolae Bretan in Cluj-Napoca, Romania in 1996. In 2001 she completed her Master’s and PhD in Romania.
Ensemble/Cellist
Theatre includes: Once (West End); The Broken Heart; Arcadia (RCSSD); Orpheus and Eurydice; Relish; A Midsummer Night's Dream (National Youth Theatre); rehearsed readings (National Theatre).
Film includes: Anna Karenina.
Jamie graduated with Distinction from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama (MA Classical Acting) and from King's College London with a First Class Honours Degree in Music training also at the Royal Academy of Music.
Ensemble/Cellist
Theatre includes: The Madness of George Dubya; Guantanamo Baywatch (New Players Theatre); The Winter’s Tale (Creation Theatre); Chekhov's Sister (Frome Festival); Tom Thumb (Forest Forge); The Tinderbox (London Bubble); Amadeus (Wilton's Music Hall), Richard III; Much Ado About Nothing (Globe Players T.I.E.), Richard III (Northcott Theatre), Othello (Ludlow Festival), As You Like It (West Yorkshire Playhouse), A Christmas Carol (Nuffield Theatre, Sheffield), The Canterbury Tales (Southwark Playhouse); Macbeth (Arcola); Dr Faustus (Shakespeare’s Globe); Rip, Fold, Scrunch (Half Moon); Why The WhalesCame (Birmingham Stage Company); Richard III (Exeter Northcott Theatre); Amadeus (Wilton’s Music Hall); The Madness of George Dubya (Pleasance Theatre, Islington); As You Like It (West Yorkshire Playhouse); The Passion Play; Sita & Rama; Teapot (National tour).
Television includes: Bedlam; Londoners; The Real Hustle; King James Bible; Titanic: Case Closed.
In addition to orchestral and session work, Harry has played for Theatre Clwyd, Plymouth Theatre Royal, Polka, The Comedy Theatre, Birmingham Stage, and has also worked at Shakespeare's Globe as a multi-instrumentalist in Doctor Faustus, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Antony and Cleopatra and Doctor Scroggy's War. He has performed live on Radio 3's In Tune, with Duke Special on Top of the Pops 2, on Paolo Nutini's recent No.1 album Caustic Love, and has for many years collaborated with the Irish singer-songwriter Juliet Turner. He has devised music for Theatre Alibi, Interplay, Creation Theatre, London Bubble, Half Moon and the Arcola.
Writer
Theatre includes: The Cherry Orchard; A Doll’s House; I Am the Wind (Young Vic / West End / BAM Broadway); Carmen Disruption ; Pornography (Deutsches Schauspielhaus); Blindsided; Punk Rock; On The Shore of the Wild World; Port (Royal Exchange); Birdland; Motortown; Country Music; Herons; Bluebird; Wastwater (Royal Court); London Calling; (Salisbury Playhouse); Morning; Pornography (Traverse Theatre); The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (National Theatre / West End / Broadway); Harper Regan (National Theatre); Three Kingdoms (Theatre NO99 / Lyric Hammersmith / Kammerspiele, Munich); The Trial of Ubu (Toneelgroep, Amsterdam / Hampstead Theatre); T5 (Roundhouse / Traverse Theatre); Morning; A Thousand Stars Explode in the Sky (Lyric Hammersmith); Marine Parade (Brighton Festival); A Canopy of Stars (Tricycle Theatre); Sea Wall; Christmas (Bush Theatre); One Minute (Actors Touring Company); Bring Me Sunshine (Edinburgh Festival Fringe).
Film includes: Dive; Pornography; Cargese.
Radio includes: Five Letters Home to Elizabeth; Digging.
On the Shore of the Wild World received the 2005 Olivier Award for Best New Play and Port won the 2001 Pearson Award for Best New Play. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time won seven Olivier Awards including Best New Play.
Direction
Theatre includes: Constellations (Broadway / West End / Royal Court); Bad Jews (West End / St. James Theatre / Ustinov Studio, Theatre Royal Bath); ’Tis Pity She’s a Whore (Sam Wanamaker Playhouse); Dealer’s Choice (Theatre Royal, Northampton); A Number (Nuffield Theatre, Southampton); The Blackest Black (Hampstead Theatre Downstairs); The World of Extreme Happiness (The Shed, National Theatre); The History Boys (Crucible Theatre, Sheffield); Cannibals (Royal Exchange, Manchester); If There Is I Haven’t Found It Yet (Roundabout / Off Broadway); The Art of Dying; Remembrance Day (Royal Court); Sixty-Six Books; On the Beach (Bush Theatre); Stovepipe (HighTide Festival / National Theatre); On the Record; Gaudeamus (Arcola Theatre); Dirty Butterfly (Young Vic); Midnight Your Time (Assembly Rooms, Edinburgh / HighTide Festival); Guardians (Pleasance, Edinburgh / Theatre503).
Constellations won the Evening Standard Award for Best Play and gained four Olivier nominations. Stovepipe was on the Sunday Times' Best Theatre of the Decade’ list in
Michael trained in directing at Mountview after reading Philosophy at Nottingham University. He is an Associate Director at the Nuffield Theatre, Southampton.
Design
Theatre includes: Treasure Island; Edward II (set); Port; A Woman Killed With Kindness (National Theatre); The Forbidden Zone (Salzburg / Berlin); All My Sons (Regent's Park Open Air Theatre); Alder & Gibb; Gastronauts; The Witness; Jumpy (also West End); Our Private Life; Aunt Dan and Lemon; The Girlfriend Experience (also Plymouth Drum); On Insomnia and Midnight (also Festival Internacional Cervantino, Guanajuato and Centro Cultural Helenico, Mexico City); Fireworks; Woman and Scarecrow; Ladybird (Royal Court); A Sorrow Beyond Dreams (Burgtheater, Vienna); A Season in the Congo;The Soldier’s Fortune (Young Vic); Le Vin Herbe (Staatsoper, Berlin); Longing; The Trial of Ubu; Tiger Country (Hampstead Theatre); The Rings of Saturn (Schauspiel Cologne); Happy Days (Crucible Theatre, Sheffield); Far Away (Bristol Old Vic); Bliss (Staatsoper, Hamburg); Shoot/Get Treasure/Repeat (Paines Plough); I’ll Be the Devil; Days of Significance; The American Pilot (RSC); Contains Violence; Absolute Beginners (Lyric Hammersmith); The Architects; Money; Tropicana; Amato Saltone; Ether Frolics; Dance Bear Dance; The Ballad of Bobby Francois; The Tennis Show (Shunt); Bedtime Story; The End of the Beginning (Union Theatre / Young Vic); Julie; Gobbo (National Theatre of Scotland); Factory Girls (Arcola Theatre); All in the Timing (Peepolykus); Moonstone (Royal Exchange, Manchester); Treasure Island (West End).
Lizzie won Best Design at the Theatre Awards UK for Happy Days.
Composition and Musical Direction
Simon has composed original music for more than 200 theatre, film, television and radio productions.
As Composer, theatre includes: Constellations (Duke of York’s Theatre / Royal Court / New York); ’Tis Pity She’s a Whore (Shakespeare’s Globe); Great Expectations (Vaudeville Theatre); Ghosts (New Vic Theatre, Stoke); Single Spies (Rose Theatre, Kingston); Wonderland; Raving; No Naughty Bits; Enlightenment (Hampstead Theatre); Land of Our Fathers; Handful of Stars (Trafalgar Studios / Theatre503); Cannibals (Royal Exchange, Manchester); The Lady and the Van (national tour); The Deep Blue Sea; Death of a Salesman; Wind in the Willows (West Yorkshire Playhouse); Two Men of Florence (Huntington Theatre, Boston); Romeo and Juliet; Henry V; Julius Caesar (RSC); James and the Giant Peach (Octagon Theatre, Bolton); Coyote On A Fence (Royal Exchange, Manchester / Duchess Theatre); Macbeth (Noël Coward Theatre); Rose Rage (Chicago Shakespeare Theatre / Duke’s Theatre, New York).
As Actor, theatre includes: Chariots of Fire (Gielgud Theatre); Viva Forever (Picadilly Theatre); Mamma Mia (Prince of Wales Theatre); Bloodshot (St. James Theatre / Vertigo Theatre, Calgary); Wonderland (Hampstead Theatre).
As Composer, television includes: Inquisition; Dalziel & Pascoe; Impact Earth and numerous short films.
As Actor, television and film includes: Iron Lady; Scott & Bailey; Spooks.
As Composer, radio includes: The Blood Libel; Eight Days in July; The Look of Life; The Report.
Simon was nominated for an Olivier Award for Constellations and was nominated for two Off West End Awards for A Handful of Stars and Life of Stuff.
Movement Direction
For the Almeida: Little Revolution; The Turn of the Screw; Filumena; Measure for Measure; When the Rain Stops Falling.
Theatre includes: The Broken Heart; ’Tis Pity She’s a Whore (Shakespeare’s Globe);Dirty Butterfly (Young Vic); Hamlet; Blindsided; Cannibals (Royal Exchange, Manchester); The Crucible (Old Vic); Arden of Faversham (RSC); Penelope (Big Dance 2012); Red Velvet (Tricycle Theatre); One Day When We Were Young; The Sound of Heavy Rain (Paines Plough / Shoreditch Town Hall); Love, Love, Love; God Bless the Child; The Low Road; A Time to Weep (Royal Court); The Tempest ( (Watermill Theatre, Newbury); The Sound of Heavy Rain (Paines Plough / Sheffield Theatres); Persuasion (Salisbury Playhouse); The Missing; An Appointment with the Wicker Man; In Time O’ Strife (National Theatre of Scotland); The History Boys; Macbeth (Crucible Theatre, Sheffield); Corrie ( The Lowry / UK tour), As You Like It; Of Mice and Men (West Yorkshire Playhouse); Romeo and Juliet (Young Shakespeare Company); The Snow Queen (Chichester Festival Theatre); The Boiler Room; Pests (Clean Break); A Doll’s House (Exeter Northcott Theatre); Dido, Queen of Carthage; Edward II (National Theatre); Wuthering Heights (Birmingham Repertory Theatre); Hooked (Hampstead Theatre); When Five Years Pass (Arcola Theatre); Success (National Theatre / Islington Youth Theatre); Twelfth Night; Masters Are You Mad (Grosvenor Park Open Air Theatre).
Television includes: Call the Midwife; The Hollow Crown.
Film includes: My Name is Ruthie Segal, Hear Me Roar (Jewish Film Festival 2009).
Opera includes: How to Make; Opera and the Little Sweep (Malmo Opera, Sweden); Powder her Face (ENO).
Light
For the Almeida: Game
Theatre includes: Happy Days (Deutsches SchauspielhausHamburg / Stadsschouwburg Amsterdam); 2071 (Royal Court / Deutsches SchauspielhausHamburg / Stadsschouwburg Amsterdam); The Forbidden Zone (Salzburg Festival / Schaubühne, Berlin); The Wardrobe; The Kilburn Passion; The Riots (Tricycle Theatre); Hopelessly Devoted (Paines Plough); Sorrow Beyond Dreams (Burgtheater, Vienna); Blink (Traverse Theatre / Soho Theatre / India / UK tour); Lungs; The Yellow Wallpaper (Schaubühne, Berlin); The Sound of Music (Jordan Cultural Festival); There Has Possibly Been an Incident (Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester / Edinburgh / UK tour); Moth (Hightide Festival / Bush Theatre); Say It with Flowers (Hampstead Theatre); The Changeling (Young Vic); Debris (Southwark Playhouse); Tommy (Prince Edward Theatre); Reise durch die Nacht (Halle Kalk, Shauspiel Köln); Mark Thomas: Bravo Figaro (Traverse Theatre / UK tour); Thin Ice (UK tour); Young Pretender (Watford Palace Theatre / UK tour); Victoria (Arts Ed); The Boy on the Swing (Arcola Theatre); Imperial Fizz (Assembly Rooms, Edinburgh); Room (Tron Theatre); One Thousand Paper Cranes (Imaginate Festival); My Name Is Sue (Soho Theatre / UK tour); If That’s All There Is (UK tour / international tour); Red Sea Fish (59E59, New York); Hanging by a Thread (UK tour); Love’s Labyrinth (Opera Restor’d); A Guest for Dinner (Arts Depot); Mr and Mrs Moon (Oily Cart); In a Pickle (Oily Cart / RSC); Ring-A-Ding-Ding (Oily Cart / Unicorn Theatre / New Victory Theatre, New York).
Jack trained at The Central School of Speech and Drama.
Sound
For the Almeida: Chimerica (also West End); Blood Wedding.
Theatre includes: Dara; Protest Song; Double Feature (National Theatre); Fathers and Sons; Lower Ninth; Dimetos; Absurdia (Donmar Warehouse); Hope; The Pass; Circle Mirror Transformation; The Low Road; Choir Boy; The Witness; Our Private Life (Royal Court); King John; The Gods Weep; The Winter’s Tale; Pericles;Days of Significance (RSC); The House That Will Not Stand; Handbagged (Tricycle Theatre); The Believers; Beautiful Burnout; Love Song;Little Dogs (Frantic Assembly); Angels in America (Headlong); Blackta; After Miss Julie (Young Vic); Thérèse Raquin (Theatre Royal, Bath); Twelfth Night (Crucible Theatre, Sheffield);Much Ado About Nothing; To Kill a Mockingbird; The Country Wife; A Whistle in the Dark; Moonshed (Manchester Royal Exchange); Lulu; The Kreutzer Sonata; Vanya (The Gate); The Water Engine (Theatre503); Stallerhof (Southwark Playhouse); All My Sons (Broadway); Kasimir & Karoline; Fanny och Alexander (Malmö Stadsteater); Amerika;Krieg der Bilder (Staatstheater, Mainz); Tre Kronor – Gustav III (Dramaten, Stockholm).
Opera includes: How the Whale Became (Royal Opera House); American Lulu (Opera Group); After Dido (ENO).
Exhibitions include: The Constellation Storybox; Collider (Science Museum); From Street to Trench ( ImperialWar Museum North).
Carolyn has also recently created sound design elements for Louis Vuitton: Spring/Summer 2015 & Fall 2015 Ready To Wear Collection shows at The Louis Vuitton Foundation, Paris.Carolyn won the Olivier Award for Best Sound Design for Chimerica.
Casting
Anne was Casting Director at the Donmar Warehouse for 20 years, where she cast more than 100 productions.
Theatre includes: The Cripple of Inishmaan (also Cort Theatre, NY); A Midsummer Night’s Dream;Henry V (Michael Grandage Company); Betrayal (UK casting, Ethel Barrymore Theatre, NY); Macbeth (Manchester International Festival / New York Armory);Tartuffe; Of Mice and Men (Birmingham Repertory Theatre); Venice Preserved (Spectator’s Guild);Good People (Hampstead Theatre / Noël Coward Theatre); Afterplay; Translations; Wonderful Tennessee (Crucible Theatre, Sheffield).
As Casting Consultant: El Train – 3 plays by Eugene O’Neill (Hoxton Hall).
Casting
For The Almeida: The Silent Twins.
Opera includes: Figaro Live; Wozzeck; Fidelio; Candide; Ulysses Comes Home; He Had it Coming (Don Giovanni); The Ariadne Prologue; La Traviata; Idomeneo; Othello; The Wedding; Life Is A Dream; Khovanshchina; The Ice Break (Birmingham Opera Company); Così fan tutte; Death in Venice; Intermezzo and many other productions over 16 years (Garsington Opera); Salad Days and other productions over 15 years (Tête à Tête); Dr Dee (Manchester International Festival / English National Opera); Tobias and the Angel; The Enchanted Pig; Varjak Paw; Street Scene; Seven Angels; Gloria - A Pigtale; Brundibar (The Opera Group / Mahogany Opera Group); Tobias and the Angel; The Enchanted Pig; Street Scene (Young Vic); Pleasure’s Progress; Clemency; La Voix Humaine (ROH2); An Ocean of Rain; The Corridor (Aldeburgh Festival).
Television includes: Death of a Princess; Man on the Moon; Figaro Live; Flashmob-The Opera; Brand New Flashmob Opera.
Film includes: The Magic Flute.
Sarah has worked in the field of performing arts management for over forty years, starting in theatre and contemporary dance before moving into opera via two years as an opera stage manager.
Assistant Direction
As Director, theatre includes: Harajuku Girls (Finborough Theatre); I'd Rather Goya Robbed Me Of My Sleep Than Some Other Arsehole (Gate Theatre/ Boom Arts, Portland); Bwyta Eliffant? Sut Mae Gwneud Hynny Dwedwch? / How Do You Eat An Elephant? (National Youth Theatre of Wales); Happy; The Mushroom (Pentabus Young Writers Festival); My Romantic History (English Theatre Berlin); Sonata Movements (Blue Elephant Theatre).
As Assistant Director, theatre includes: The Prophet (Gate Theatre); On the Twentieth Century (Union Theatre).
As Director, opera includes: Calculated to Death (Tête-à-Tête Opera Festival, London / Future Shorts, Tokyo).
Jude trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.
Costume Supervision
For the Almeida: Game; Mr Burns: A post-electric play.
As Associate Costume Designer, theatre and opera include: Curlew River (Barbican / London & USA tour; Marco Polo (Bergen National Opera / Bergen Festival, Norway); Where the Wild Things Are; HiggledyPiggledyPop (Barbican / Walt Disney Hall / Aldeburgh Music Festival; Mamma Mia (Artscape Theatre, Cape Town / Korea tour); Much Ado About Nothing (The Lord Chamberlain’s Men / UK tour).
As Costume Supervisor, theatre and opera include: Alice In Wonderland (LA Philharmonic, Walt Disney Hall / Barbican London);’Tis Pity She’s a Whore (Shakespeare’s Globe); Edward II (National Theatre); Mamma Mia! (Shanghai, China); Le Nozze Di Figaro (Sadler’s Wells / Teatro Ventidio Bassi, Ascoli Piceno); The White Devil (Menier Chocolate Factory); Dickens Unplugged (Comedy Theatre).
As Costume Designer, film includes: Minimus; In the Dark Half; Where Have I Been All Your Life.
★★★★★ will go on reverberating, not beacuse it beguiles but because it is so 3D dramatic. It is a depth charge to the theatre.
The Observer
★★★★★ This is theatre you feel... a show that demands a second viewing. Bravura staging... exquisite... hypnotic.
Whatsonstage.com
★★★★ Stephens' writing has rarely felt sharper and Michael Longhurst's poetic production achieves moments of startling intimacy.
Evening Standard
★★★★ Superb production... music, words and story blend in a kind of strange of powerful perfection.
Arts Desk
★★★★ Intelligent, beautiful and finely gauged. Superb work... give it a vital heart and humanity.
Exeunt
★★★ A ravishing and intense production... endlessly intriguing... unforgettable.
Time Out
★★★ The cast lend an extraordinary intimacy to an ensemble piece that sticks in the memory... gorgeous, absorbing.
The Times
★★★ Longhurst's production is rich in atmosphere: it is wine-dark and full of ache and yearning... bleakly beautiful.
The Stage
Carmen Disruption is approximately 1 hour 35 minutes with no interval.
The Singer Sharon Small
Carmen Jack Farthing
Don José Noma Dumezweni
Escamillo John Light
Micaëla Katie West
Chorus Viktoria Vizin
Ensemble/Cellist Jamie Cameron
Ensemble/Cellist Harry Napier
Writer Simon Stephens
Direction Michael Longhurst
Design Lizzie Clachan
Composition and
Musical Direction Simon Slater
Movement Direction Imogen Knight
Light Jack Knowles
Sound Carolyn Downing
Casting Anne McNulty CDG
and Sarah Playfair
Dramaturg Pia Furtado
Assistant Direction Jude Christian
Costume Supervision Jemima Penny
Casting Assistant Ruth O'Dowd
Assistant Musical Direction
Neil Macdonald
Casting Assistant Ruth O'Dowd