#JMKSpace: Opera Workshop with Adele Thomas

Opera Workshop with

Adele Thomas

Opera often feels like a closed shop. Getting into opera as a director can feel unfathomable and unclear.

During this workshop, Adele is keen to burst the doors open and invite people in to explore opera for the first time- if you are a theatre director who is even tentatively interested in exploring opera, but don't know where to begin, this will be a great introduction to the medium.

This is a playful and immersive insight into working with operatic music, exploring what it means to work with singers and the relationship with a conductor. No in-depth knowledge of classical music is needed; just a desire to explore making theatre through music.

The workshop will take place 2 p.m. - 4 p.m. on Tuesday 15th September on Zoom.

There are 15 places available. This event is open access. It takes the place of our directors' groups normally hosted by Bristol Old Vic and Sherman Theatre Cardiff.

Please apply by writing (or sending a video) by 5pm on Tuesday 1st September with a paragraph about what excites you about working with music and your experience so far to jo@jmktrust.org.

If you have any access requirements, need technical support or have any other questions, please don't hesitate to contact jo@jmktrust.org.

As with all our events, please inform us as soon as possible if you are no longer able to attend. There will be a waiting list for participants who wish to join once the workshop has reached capacity.

‘The barriers to making opera - both real and imagined - are often at odds with a medium that celebrates imaginative directorial vision and, as someone raised in a working class household with no youthful access to Classical music, I’m very aware that the industry is crying out for more diverse directorial voices.’

Adele Thomas was raised in Port Talbot, and began her directing career while a student at Cambridge University. She was a recipient of the ITV Theatre Director Scheme (now RTYDS Theatre Director Scheme) and is an alumnus of the National Theatre Studio Young Directors course. Selected directing credits include Eyam and The Oresteia for Shakespeare’s Globe, Thomas Tallis and The Knight of the Burning Pestle for Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, Shakespeare’s Globe, The Weir for English Touring Theatre, The Passion (as Project Associate) for National Theatre Wales, Unusual Unions –The Golden Hours for the Royal Court, The Bloody Ballad for Gagglebabble, Write Here for Traverse Theatre, Macbeth for Bristol Tobacco Factory, A Warring Absence for NT Platform, National Theatre, and several productions for Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama including A Vampire Story, Madness in Valencia, A Doll’s House, The Legend of the Golden Swans and Three Sisters.