Grimeborn
Grimeborn is an annual musical theatre and opera festival held at Arcola Theatre in Dalston, East London. It was founded by Arcola Theatre's artistic director Mehmet Ergen in 2007. It takes place in and around August, and tends to showcase new and experimental works alongside radical productions of classic opera, using both the Arcola's performing stages.
History
The festival's name is a punning reference to the world famous East Sussex Glyndebourne Opera Festival. The "grime" element refers to the "dirtier" backdrop of the Arcola Theatre, a converted textile factory in the congested bustle of Hackney as opposed to the scenic gardens of East Sussex.Originally, Grimeborn was devised as a contemporary contribution to the Battersea Arts Centre's Opera Festival. The BAC Opera Festival's Artistic Director at the time, Tom Morris, asked Ergen, who was working at the BAC as an Associate Producer, to create something different from normal operatic preconceptions in a manner similar to Tête à Tête, who were also taking the stage at the BAC Opera Festival that year. Grimeborn became an opera and musical theatre festival in its own right, with the Arcola Theatre its exclusive host.
Past performances
2019
2018
List not complete: awaiting further additions| Opera | Composer | Production company | Conductor or Music Director | Director | Designer |
| Greek | Mark-Anthony Turnage | Arcola Theatre | Tim Anderson | Jonathan Moore | Baśka Wesołowska |
| Lucia di Lammermoor | Gaetano Donizetti | Fulham Opera | Ben Woodward | Sarah Hutchinson | Anna Yates |
| The Prometheus Revolution | Keith Burstein | Fulham Opera | Ben Woodward | Sophie Gilpin | Sunny Smith |
| The Boatswain's Mate | Ethel Smyth | Spectra Ensemble | John Warner | Cecilia Stinton | Christianna Mason |
2017
List not complete: awaiting further additions| Opera | Composer | Production company | Conductor or Music Director | Director | Designer |
| Armide | Jean-Baptiste Lully | Ensemble OrQuesta | Marcio da Silva | Marcio da Silva | |
| Porgy and Bess | George Gershwin | ||||
| Samson and Delilah | Camille Saint-Saëns | Arcola Theatre | Kelvin Lim | Aylin Bozok | Aylin Bozok |
| The Diary of One Who Disappeared | Leos Janáček | Shadwell Opera | Matthew Fletcher | Jack Furness | Jack Furness |
2015
List not complete: awaiting further additions| Opera | Composer | Production company | Conductor or Music Director | Director | Designer |
| The Medium /The Wanton Sublime | Peter Maxwell Davies /Tarik O'Regan | Opera Room Productions | Andrew Griffiths | Robert Shaw | Gillian Argo |
| Daphne | Richard Strauss | Opera at Home | José Manuel Gandia | José Manuel Gandia | |
| Gala | Ergo Phizmiz | Ergo Phizmiz | Luis Carvajal |
2014
List not complete: awaiting further additions| Opera | Composer | Production company | Conductor or Music Director | Director | Designer |
| The Medium | Gian Carlo Menotti | OperaView | Maite Aguirre | Natalie Katsou | Maria Kalamara |
| Madame X | Tim Benjamin | Radius | Anthony Brannick | Lara Booth | |
| Werther | Jules Massenet | Philip Voldman | Aylin Bozok |
2012
Curated by Mehmet Ergen and produced by Leyla Nazli| Opera | Composer | Production company | Conductor or Music Director | Director | Designer |
| Il tabarro | Giacomo Puccini | Philip Voldman | Aylin Bozok | ||
| The Sound of a Voice | Philip Glass | Volta Theatre | Tom Kelly | Andrea Ferran | |
| Hansel and Gretel | Engelbert Humperdinck | Opera at Home | Jose Gandia | ||
| Bastien und Bastienne | Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart | David Eaton | Nina Brazier | ||
| Susanna's Secret | Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari | David Eaton | Nina Brazier | ||
| Handel Furioso | George Frideric Handel | Max Hoehn | |||
| The Emperor of Atlantis | Viktor Ullmann | Julian Black | Max Hoehn | ||
| La voix humaine | Francis Poulenc | Motion Productions | Jean-Yves Cornet | Ilan Reichel | |
| Tonseisha | Kim B. Aston | Saltpeter | Gary Merry | ||
| Unleashed | Philip Venables | Fourfortytwo and The Blackburn Company | Nick Blackburn | ||
| The Marriage of Figaro | Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart | Heritage Opera | Chris Gill | Sarah Helsby Hughes | |
| Rigoletto | Giuseppe Verdi | Heritage Opera | Sarah Helsby Hughes | ||
| Thirteen Days - The Musical | Alexander S. Bermange, arr. Paul Bateman | Matthew Gould |
2011
2010
Curated by Andrew Steggall and produced by Leyla Nazli| Opera | Composer | Production company | Conductor or Music Director | Director | Designer |
| The Rape of Lucretia | Benjamin Britten | Thomas Blunt | Max Key | Sarah Bacon | |
| Spilt Milk | Timothy Burke | ||||
| Trouble in Tahiti | Leonard Bernstein | Timothy Burke | Nina Brazier | Polly Webb-Wilson | |
| The Prodigal Son /The Homecoming | Benjamin Britten /Felix Mendelssohn | Elizabeth Burgess | Joe Austin | Simon Kenny | |
| Vice | Jools Scott | ||||
| The Raven | Matt Rogers | Sinead O'Neill | Sarah Bacon | ||
| Crow | Michael Rouston | Mark McInnes | |||
| Poison Garden | Louis d'Heudieres | Waistcoat Company | Louis d'Heudieres | Daisy Evans | Daisy Evans |
| The Diaries of Adam and Eve | David Josiah Moore | Ben Gwalchmai | |||
| How I Wonder | Dominique Le Gendre | Irene Brown | |||
| The Stone Heart | Alexander Campkin | ||||
| Cocteau in the Underworld | Ed Hughes | Heather Doole for Metta Theatre | Carlos Del Cueto | Poppy Burton-Morgan | William Reynolds |
| Les Enfants Terribles | Philip Glass | Andrea Ferran | Sarah Bacon |
2009
Curated by Alex Sutton and produced by Leyla Nazli- The Descent of Inanna: Bare Bones Version, Produced by: Opera Exchange
- An Unorthodox 1-2 Produced by: Aurelie
- Ride, Produced by: Filament, Composer: Osnat Schmool, Director: Sabina Netherclift
- Phedre, Produced by: ElectrOpera, Composers: Sally Rodgers, Steve Jones, Director: Philippe Cherbonnier
- Something Strange by Rebecca Applin and Michael Caines
- To Die A Second Time, Produced by: Double Agent, Director: Teunkie Van Der Sluijs
- The Tender Land by Aaron Copland, Produced by: Mad Cow Theatre Company, Director: Katherine Hare, musical director: Leigh Thompson, Choreographer: Racky Plews
- The Savage & The Island, Composed, written and performed by the Arcola Youth Project under the guidance of Jenifer Toksvig and Nick Sutton.
- Disappeared, Produced by: The Theory of Everything, Devised and directed by: Pia Furtado and members of the cast, featuring traditional gypsy music Inspired by and featuring Janáček's song cycle.
- The Work of Art by Conor Mitchell and Jenifer Toksvig
- Goodbye Barcelona, Produced by: Arcola Theatre, Composer: KS Lewkowicz, Playwright: Judith Johnson, Director: Karen Rabinowitz
- Why Are Clowns?, Produced by: L'Oiseau Chante, Composer: Ewen Moore, Director: Aaron Paterson
- Presenting... The News, Produced by: Size Zero Music Theatre, Composer & director: Laura Jayne Bowler
- Dante by Peter Longworth, Director: Holly McBride
- The Wonderful Thing About Lizards by Lucy Smith, Director: Toria Banks
- Abraham and Isaac, Produced by: Metta Theatre, Composer: Benjamin Britten, Director: Poppy Burton-Morgan
- Pig, Greed ; Cinderella(Stephen Oliver Produced by: Bitesize Opera, Director: Toria Banks
- Jephtha by Handel, Director: Ralph Bridle, Conductor: Wolfgang Kostner
- Stolen Voices by Neyire Ashworth, Director & Co-devisor: Kath Burlinson
- La Voix Humaine, Produced by: Renée Salewski & Flat Earth Theatre, Composer: Francis Poulenc, Librettist: Jean Cocteau, Director: Robin Norton-Hale
- A Shropshire Lad, Produced by: Pst! Productions, Cast: Peter Shipman, Director: Jan-Willem van den Bosch
- The Telephone by Gian Carlo Menotti, Director: Nina Brazier, Designer: Polly Webb-Wilson, Costumes: Giulia Scrimieri
- The Singing Bone/Domestic, Produced by: The Stephen Crowe Ensemble, Composer: Stephen Crowe, Directors: Seonaid Goody and Stephen Crowe
- The Woodcutter's Daughter, Produced by: Eclectic Opera, Composer: Richard Cartmale, Librettist: Buffy Sharpe, Cast: Belinda Evans, Glenn Tweedie, Peter Shipman
- Songs of Alchemy, Produced by: Eclectic Opera, Composer: Kirsten Morrison, Director: Jan-Willem van den Bosch
- Grimethorpe Race Presented by: Shared Property Theatre Company Directors: Lizzie Newman and Rachel Parish, Designer: Lucy Sierra, Scenic Artist: Zoe Parsons
- The Spoils, Produced by: Shady Dolls Theatre Company, Composer: Paul Englishby, Director: Steven Dykes
- Music Theatre Now - a cabaret evening dedicated to new musical theatre writing. Featured Composers: Conor Mitchell, Adam Guettel, Raymond Yiu, Ricky Ian Gordon, Tim Saward, Matt Print Director: Alex Sutton, Musical Direction: Leigh Thompson, Cast: Clare Burt and the London Show Choir
- Figaro - The Loyal Subject, Produced by: Grimeborn Opera, Composers: Mozart, Rossini, Milhaud, Adaptator & director: Barnaby Rayfield
- Why Don't You Just Sing Jazz?, Produced by: Opera in Colour, Writer & director: Roger Mortimer-Smith, Devised and produced by: Nadine Mortimer-Smith, Musical Direction: Peter Crockford
- Hothouse, Directed by: Sophie Austin, Musical Direction: Jamie Fagg, Produced by: Kas Darley and Sophie Austin