Award winning theatre group on stage

It will come to Shropshire on February 8, following a five-week run at London’s Arcola Theatre,

This new English version by Robin Norton-Hale transposes the story of Tatyana’s sexual awakening to the early 1960s. Infatuation and self-restraint do battle in a well-tailored world of sleek suits and full skirts, with seasonal allusions to the snow-swept Russian landscape of the original story.

Directed by Lucy Bradley, musically directed from the piano by Sonia Ben Santamaria and designed by Rosanna Vize, it is a critically-acclaimed coming-of-age story.

OperaUpClose’s artistic director Robin Norton-Hale said: “It’s been thrilling to work on this feminist re-telling of this rich, complex opera with such a talented team. As Tchaikovsky himself identified strongly with Tatyana, and many opera-lovers agree the opera could have been called after its female protagonist, we feel this is a timely re-examination of this wonderful piece”.

Theatre Severn marketing manager Craig Reeves said: “We are excited to see the return of OperaUpClose who provide opportunities for existing opera audiences to engage with classic operas in new ways. They are also the perfect introduction for people who are unfamiliar with opera to experience a high quality, innovatively staged, unintimidating English language production”

Eugene Onegin is performed by 10 singers and four instrumentalists in a new orchestration for piano, cello, violin and woodwind by Alison Holford and James Widden.

Tickets for the production are on sale now and can be booked online at theatresevern.co.uk, by calling 01743 281281 and from the box office.