OperaUpClose, the company which has become synonymous with accessible small-scale opera – and who, with their award-winning La Bohème, showed that innovative opera productions don’t have to take place in grand theatres with a grand budget to match – is to leave the Islington pub that has been its home for the past four years.
From January 2015, the company will work in a variety of larger venues in London, including Kings Place, and further develop its touring output across the UK. Building on a partnership that began with the transfer of La Bohème in 2010 OperaUpClose will continue as an associate company of Soho theatre, and will also build on a co-producing relationship with Coventry’s Belgrade theatre.
In the autumn, Kings Place’s second concert hall will host the European premiere of Ulla’s Odyssey, which earlier this month won the Flourish opera-writing competition. The family-friendly chamber opera, by New Zealand composer Anthony Young, will have four fully staged performances directed by Valentina Ceschi in a new production that the company hope will then tour the UK.
OperaUpClose, led by artistic director Robin Norton-Hale and executive producer Dominic Haddock, was formed in 2009, and its first production, of Puccini’s La Bohème took place at Kilburn’s Cock Tavern. The company became residents of the 107-seat King’s Head theatre in north London in October 2010, since when it has opened 18 operas. To celebrate its fifth anniversary and mark its departure from Islington, three of the most popular productions – The Elixir of Love, La Bohème and The Barber of Seville – will be revived for limited runs this Christmas.
“Our residency at King’s Head theatre has enabled us to test the boundaries of what can be achieved in a pub theatre, from on-stage swimming pools, motorbikes and a hanging to using the bar area for performances,” said Norton-Hale. “It’s been a supportive and characterful environment in which to work.”
The theatre’s artistic director, Adam Spreadbury-Maher, said: “I’m sad to see the company leave but I’m very proud of what we’ve all done over the last few years. The King’s Head theatre turns 45 next year and we’ll be announcing our new season shortly. This is a big change for us, and that’s just the way it should be – risk is the lifeblood of what we do. “