For Spring 2018, after its huge successes in 2017, Pop-Up Opera are reviving Humperdinck’s
Hansel and Gretel, giving one of the most popular operatic fairy tales a magical twist that will both
enchant and thrill.
Continuing to challenge the way opera is traditionally performed, Pop-Up Opera will bring
Humperdinck’s dark and atmospheric opera to unusual and unique spaces across the UK. Sung in
German (with Pop-Up Opera’s signature ‘silent movie’ captions in English), the wonderful
combination of music and drama brings the exciting relationships between characters to life.
Brother and sister Hansel and Gretel are drawn into the idyllic yet dangerous world of the forest,
where they encounter the Sandman, the Dew Fairy and, most frightening of all, the Witch. In the
dizzying excitement of the Witch’s Ride and the serene beauty of the children’s evening prayer,
Humperdinck’s music magically evokes the contrasting worlds of the story.
Director James Hurley comments, Hansel and Gretel is the perfect fairy tale opera experience,
packed full of humour, suspense, and danger. It offers some unique theatrical challenges – how to
create an enchanted forest, build a gingerbread house, or burn a witch! This production will
conjure up an ingenious, fully-integrated scenic world, which stays true to Pop-Up’s immersive
charm.
The cast conjure plenty of magic… mops become broomsticks or trees in the dark forest, strips of
cardboard a songbird… a performance that leaves rival fringe companies in their icing-sugar dust.
(Alexandra Coghlan, The Arts Desk)
They’ll be coming to St Mary in the Castle in Sussex on 15 February and the Chichester Minerva Theatre on 16 February.
