✕ ✕
Turning tips into memories
Login
Signup

You have reached the limit of free articles.


To enjoy unlimited access to Culture Whisper plus a pair of free tickets to a London event sign up for FREE.
Find out more about Culture Whisper


Sign up by Email or Facebook.

Please fix the following input errors:

  • dummy

Each week, we sent newsletters and communication featuring articles, our latest tickets invitations, and exclusive offers.

Occasional information about discounts, special offers and promotions.


OR
LOG IN

OR
  • LOG IN WITH FACEBOOK

Thanks for signing up to Culture Whisper.
Please check your inbox for a confirmation email and click the link to verify your account.



EXPLORE CULTURE WHISPER
✕ ✕
Turning tips into memories
Login
Signup

Please fix the following input errors:

  • dummy
Forgot your username or password?
Don't have an account? Sign Up

OR
  • LOG IN WITH FACEBOOK

If you click «Log in with Facebook» and are not a Culture Whisper user, you agree to our Terms & Conditions and to our Privacy Policy, which includes our Cookie Use

Turning tips into memories

Get started Login
  • Home
  • Going Out
    • Things to do
    • Food & Drink
    • Theatre
    • Visual Arts
    • Cinema
    • Kids
    • Festival
    • Gigs
    • Dance
    • Classical Music
    • Opera
    • Immersive
    • Talks
  • Staying In
    • TV
    • Books
    • Cook
    • Podcast
    • Design
    • Netflix
  • Life & Style
    • Beauty
    • Fashion
    • Gifting
    • Wellbeing
    • Lifestyle
    • Shopping
    • Jewellery
  • Explore
  • About us
  • Tickets
  • Membership
  • Get Started
  • Membership
  • Tickets
Get our exclusive content
+ choose a pair of free tickets from our edit of favourite events
Opera

Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Pop-Up Opera

01 Jun 16 – 01 Sep 16, Show times vary; run time 2 hours, 10 minutes

Rossini's romantic comedy is given a new look in off-beat London locations

By Claudia Pritchard on 20/5/2016

Pop-Up Opera refreshes Rossini's 'Il Barbiere di Siviglia'
Pop-Up Opera refreshes Rossini's 'Il Barbiere di Siviglia'
Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Pop-Up Opera Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Pop-Up Opera Claudia Pritchard
Love has a habit of turning up when and where it is least expected, and that applies too to Pop-Up Opera, whose summer production is Rossini's gloriously tuneful, romantic and comic opera Il Barbiere di Siviglia.


Down the shaft of a tunnel under the Thames, in a pub, a church, a museum, and under a station, Pop-Up Opera, which made its debut in the spring with Bellini's Romeo and Juliet opera I Capuleti e I Montecchi, breaks free of the conventions of a traditional theatre or opera house.


That liberation is exhilarating for audience and performers alike. "The opera is so well known, and this will be a wholly different way of approaching it," says company director Clementine Lovell. "We can never rely on a set or fancy props and costumes to carry our productions, so it forces us to be creative and to really pay attention to the drama and conveying the story in a totally engaging way."


Il Barbiere di Siviglia - the barber of Seville - tells the story of Almaviva, a count disguised as a poor student, who manages to rescue his beloved Rosina from under the nose of her jealous elderly guardian, with the help of the resourceful servant Figaro.


Four performances will be given in the Thames Tunnel Shaft under the Brunel Museum in Rotherhithe, in keeping with the flamboyant history of the tunnel over which is presides, a feat of Victorian engineering that now takes the Overground Ginger Line from Wapping to Rotherhithe: during its construction a great candlelit dinner was held underground. Catch the opera here, in Italian with English surtitles, on 7, 8, 21, 22 June.


il Barbiere di Siviglia opens at St Mary's church, Upper Street, Islington on 1 June, and also drops in to the Bull, 3 North Street, Highgate on 14 June, rushes into the London Museum of Water and Steam, Kew, on 12 July, and dives into the Vaults at London Waterloo on 1 September. In between times the company goes out of town.

by Claudia Pritchard

What Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Pop-Up Opera
Where Various Locations | MAP
Nearest tube Acton Town (underground)
When 01 Jun 16 – 01 Sep 16, Show times vary; run time 2 hours, 10 minutes
Price £20-£28
Website Click here to book tickets

You might also like
Free for Members
Up to £24
Lord Strathcona’s Horse on the March Painted by Alfred Munnings in 1918 Oil on canvas Beaverbrook Collection of War Art Canadian War Museum
Booking closed
15 Dec 18 - 23 Feb 19

Alfred Munnings: War Artist, 1918

See all tickets

Most popular

Things to do in London this weekend: 22 – 24 February
Things to do in London this weekend: 22 – 24 February
Best art exhibitions, London, 2019
Best art exhibitions, London, 2019
Debut at the National Theatre: Cate Blanchett stars in When We Have Sufficiently Tortured Each Other
When We Have Sufficiently Tortured Each Other, National Theatre review

A little more...


  • 1. TICKETS, TRAVEL TIPS AND DINING ETIQUETTE

    Glyndebourne Opera Festival 2016

    2. GLYNDEBOURNE 2017 UNVEILING

    Everything you need to know about the Glyndebourne Festival Opera 2017

    3. ROYAL OPERA HOUSE

    Take a peek at what's on right now

    4. PHILIP GLASS AT 80

    Barbican Centre January 2017

Rossini

Pop-Up Opera

You might like

  • YolanDa Brown, photo courtesy of Agenda

    Prom 6 2016, Royal Albert Hall

  • Il barbiere di Siviglia, Glyndebourne Opera Festival 2016

    Il barbiere di Siviglia, Glyndebourne Opera Festival 2016

  • Rosalind Plowright gives a compelling performance as the ageing Countess in The Queen of Spades

    The Queen of Spades review, Opera Holland Park ★★★★★

  • Anna Patalong sings Mimi in La Boheme

    La Boheme, Opera Holland Park 2016

  • The Culture Whisper team
  • What is Culture Whisper membership
  • Corporate membership
  • Give a gift membership
  • Retrieve a gift membership
  • Contact us
  • Press
  • FAQ
  • Privacy
  • Terms and conditions
  • Cookies
  • Discover
  • Venues
  • Restaurants
  • Stations
  • Boroughs

BECOME A MEMBER TODAY
TO CONTINUE TO ENJOY CULTURE WHISPER

You’ve clicked to view the best of our content that we
save exclusively for our members.

If you liked what you saw, subscribe from just £15 and get
unlimited access to our unique culture service as well as
all of our membership benefits.

BECOME A MEMBER ×

Want a pair of free tickets every month?
Upgrade to Gold Whisper now
and save 10% with GOLD10.
Become a premium member today.

UPGRADE NOW ×