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Performance

VenueBarbican Centre
Also: Barbican Theatre,Barbican Hall. Guildhall School of Music and Drama Theatre, Cinema1,Cinema2,Gallery, Silk Street Theatre
TownWest End
CountyGreater London
From29th March 2016
To3rd April 2016
When19:30. Apr16 3 Mat 14:30
Barbican Centre (V371)
Current/Future Listings
Listings Archive

Production Changes

Previous details associated with this item and date of change.
  • Date of change: 30 Oct 15 - T079606579
  • Date of change: 7 Oct 15 - T079606579

The Importance of Being Earnest

The Importance of Being Earnest

Work:: The Importance of Being Earnest (S01363646553)

The full-length opera in three acts is Gerald Barry's typically idiosyncratic take on Oscar Wilde's definitive comedy of manners, complete with a whistling, marching, plate-smashing orchestra and gender-bending Lady Bracknell. Barry adapted the libretto himself, heavily cutting the original play to leave only the bare bones. Explaining his inspiration, the composer says: "I know of nothing like The Importance of Being Earnest - though perhaps it shares a subversion with Alice in Wonderland. The text revels in anarchy, and an Irish delight in the absurd - to the point of ecstasy." Reviewing the opera's world premiere in Los Angeles, Mark Swed of the Los Angeles Times wrote: "The opera is hysterically funny. The score is highly sophisticated and indescribably zany. Although unstaged, the concert performance proved marvelous theater. The world now has something rare: a new genuinely comic opera and maybe the most inventive Oscar Wilde opera since Richard Strauss' 'Salome' more than a century ago"
Music Gerry Barry
Lyrics Gerald Barry

Production:: (T079606579)

Producer Royal Opera House
Adapted by Gerald Barry
Director Ramin Gray
Design Ben Clark
Costume Christina Cunningham
Lighting Franz Peter David
Director Leon Baugh (movement director)
Conductor Tim Murray
Director Ramin Gray
Design Ben Clark (associate set designer)
Costume Christina Cunningham
Lighting Franz Peter David
Director Leon Baugh (movement director)
Company Britten Sinfonia
Performer Benedict Nelson (Algernon Moncrieff)
Performer Paul Curievici (John Worthing)
Performer Claudia Boyle (Cecily Cardew)
Performer Stephanie Marchall (Gwendolen Fairfax)
Performer Alan Ewing (Lady Bracknell)
Performer Hilary Summers (Miss Prism)
Performer Simon Wilding (Lane / Merriman)

Listing:: L489778044




Reviews

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