Barefoot Opera returns to Rye this autumn with its most ambitious tour to date: a bold new production of Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor – the iconic romantic tragedy, reimagined with the company’s distinctive fusion of classical music, physical theatre, and community participation.
Heading to the Rye Creative Centre on September 25 as part of a 13-night tour across London and the South East, Barefoot’s production promises a reinvention of the classic story for contemporary audiences.
In keeping with its ethos of inclusivity, Barefoot Opera will feature community choirs, school groups, and local singers alongside professionals, ensuring each performance resonates with local voice and spirit. This is opera for everyone – not just to watch, but to participate in, and the Marsh Choir will be taking to the stage to bring their unique sound to the performance.
The tragic story of a woman whose heart and mind are shattered by coercion, power and a bitter family feud, Lucia di Lammermoor is based on the novel by Sir Walter Scott and recreated as an opera by Donizetti.
Barefoot’s creative team – led by director Rosie Kat – will bring a fresh new spin to the operatic classic, partnering with Hastings-based mental health charity, Soundcastle, to integrate mental health awareness training into its creative process – a fitting initiative for an opera so rooted in psychological tension.
Rosie said: “Our treatment of the story has been extremely sensitive to the emotional traumas conjured within the story and how our audience may be triggered or drawn into those moments, which is why the whole cast and crew have undergone mental health awareness training so that we can support each other – and the audience – as they experience the intensity of emotions with us.
“At the opera’s emotional core is Lucia’s famed ‘mad scene’ – a chilling moment of vocal and psychological unravelling, which is designed to draw the audience into the immediacy of the emotions. As well as being sensitive to the potential reactions felt by the audience, our performers also step outside the traditional realms of operatic convention by both singing and playing instruments on stage. It is our hope that the effect will create a multi-sensory experience that is as intimate as it is epic.”
Barefoot’s Company
Designer Fenna de Jonge is in charge of Barefoot’s stage aesthetic, while Laurence Panter reworks Donizetti’s score for the eclectic Barefoot Band – piano, accordion, saxophone, and double bass, merging classical depth with the raw spontaneity of gypsy jazz.
Following her acclaimed Barefoot Opera debut in La Traviata last year, rising soprano Beren Fidan takes the lead, with Phil Smith (Royal Opera, WNO) as her tormented brother; Jack Dolan as her forbidden lover, and Eamonn Walsh as her ill-fated husband-to-be. This blend of emerging talent and seasoned professionals promises a fresh, electrifying operatic experience.
Director Rosie adds: “Whether an opera veteran or a curious newcomer, this Barefoot Opera production invites local audiences to experience Lucia di Lammermoor as never before: not as an historic artifact, but as a living, breathing work of art with enormous contemporary relevance.”
Image Credits: Barefoot Opera .