Samling Academy Opera, 2015

L'enfant et les sortilèges

Directed by Samling Artists Miranda Wright and Jean-Paul Pruna, in July 2015 Samling Academy Opera presented Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortilèges. This ‘lyric fantasy’ – The Child and the Spells – is a cautionary tale where a naughty child’s actions rebound as inanimate objects and animals learn to talk and seek their revenge. This fully-staged production with a reduction of the score for piano duet, cello and flute by Didier Puntos also saw Samling Artist Ruth Jenkins-Róbertsson join the all-Academy cast in the roles of Fire and Nightingale.

Dena Lague, who has performed with Matthew Bourne’s celebrated New Adventures for the past decade, joined the production team as movement director and the opera was lit by innovative international lighting designer, Petr Vocka.

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Cast

L’enfant Charlotte La Thrope
Maman & La tasse chinoise Harriet Beckham
Le fauteuil & L’arbre Jacob Robson
La bergère & L’écureuil Ana Fernández Guerra
L’horloge comtoise Richard Pinkstone
Le théière & La rainette Alexander Banfield
Le feu & Le rossignol Ruth Jenkins-Róbertsson
La princesse Rowan Pierce
Une pastourelle & La chatte Camilla Harris
Un pâtre & La chouette Rebecca Madden
Le petit vieillard Myrna Tennant
Le chat Jordan Carlton
La libellule Charlotte Heslop
La chauve-souris & L’enfant (cover) Elen Roberts
Chorus Violet Beaumont, Laura Brown, Emily Bullock, Honor Halford MacLeod

Production Team

Director Miranda Wright
Music Director & Piano Jean-Paul Pruna
Movement Director Dena Lague
Lighting Design Petr Vocka
Lighting Alex Edwards
Piano Ian Tindale
Flute Luke Russell
Cello Nick Byrne
Stage Manager, Props & Costume Design Emily Bestow
Wardrobe, Hair & Make-up Claire Weston
Production Assistant Holly Brunskill
Surtitles Ken Chalmers
Surtitles Operator Mary Emmett
Production Support Sue Pierce
Photography Jen Hart & Mark Pinder
Transport Baynes Travel, Allendale

Charlotte La Thrope and Rowan Pierce

Myrna Tennant, Ana Fernández Guerra and Charlotte Heslop

Harriet Beckham and Alexander Banfield

Charlotte La Thrope and Ruth Jenkins-Róbertsson