Acclaimed Grimeborn Festival returns

The acclaimed and alternative Grimeborn Festival is back. Now in its fourth year this year’s programme, curated by Andrew Steggall, presents the now celebrated mix of new and experimental opera and music juxtaposed with rarely performed works by established composers.

Grimeborn ’10 runs at the Arcola Theatre, from Monday 9th August – Sunday 22nd August nightly at 8pm.

The Festival opens on Monday 9th August with Britten’s The Prodigal Son and Mendelssohn’s The Homecoming. These two, short operatic works tell the story of a homecoming. Britten’s dark church parable, inspired by a painting by Rembrandt, is the biblical story of an errant son, returning home the wiser for his travels. Mendelssohn’s light-hearted work was written to celebrate his parents’ silver wedding anniversary. This will be its first professional performance in this country for many years and the world premiere of the new translation by John Warrack.

Other Festival highlights include Philip Glass’ Les Enfant Terribles which receives its UK premiere at Grimeborn ’10 and is presented by Heather Doole and directed by Andrea Ferran. The piece was premiered in Switzerland in 1996 and is the final instalment of Philip Glass’ trilogy based on the works of Jean Cocteau. Performed on 21st and 22nd August it is paired with a new work, Cocteau in the Underworld composed by Ed Hughes and with a libretto by Roger Morris.

Grimeborn ‘10’s curator – Andrew Steggall - directs the first complete industry showcase of Vice – a musical theatre piece inspired by The Revenger’s Tragedy. It is written by Sue Curtis and composed by Jools Scott (16th August). The Raven is composed by Matt Rogers and directed by Sinead O’Neill. Inspired by Edgar Allen Poe’s poem it uses extracts from Poe’s text (17th and 18th August).

Crow is a short piece composed by Michael Roulston and directed by Mark McInnes. Inspired by Celtic mythology, it deals with the Crow, an entity whose task is to guide the souls of the dead to the Otherworld (17th and 18th August).

For further information and full festival listings, visit: arcolatheatre.com