My Shows
News on your favorite shows, specials & more!

Ensemble Galante and Mopoke Theatre Team for DIDO & AENEAS at Queen's Theatre

By:

Ensemble Galante and Mopoke Theatre Team for DIDO & AENEAS at Queen's Theatre Image

In this strictly limited season of three intimate performances, Ensemble Galante joins forces with Mopoke Theatre Productions to present a fully-staged production of Henry Purcell's iconic Dido & Aeneas in Adelaide's historic Queen's Theatre, from October 7 - 9.

Considered the cornerstone of baroque opera, Dido and Aeneas, inciting love, betrayal and scorn, is one of Purcell's foremost theatrical works. Queen Dido, ruler of Carthage, gives asylum to the Trojan hero Aeneas. They fall passionately in love. An evil Sorceress and her coven of witches plot their destruction and, in a cruel twist of fate, their love turns to heartbreak and death.

Ensemble Galante and Mopoke Theatre Productions' in-the-round staging of Dido and Aeneas breaks traditional theatrical boundaries, marrying a very contemporary setting and costuming with period instrumentation, including a theorbo (17th century lute). Costumed singers and musicians move freely around the space, in and around the audience, blurring where the stage begins and ends.

This gritty, contemporary production is directed by Nicholas Cannon (Cloudstreet) with upcoming Adelaide soprano Bethany Hill in the title role of Dido. She is joined by some of Australia's best- known opera singers and an ensemble of nine early-music instrumentalists.

This very different staging of one of the world's great baroque operas, performed in the oldest theatre in mainland Australia, is not to be missed.

IF YOU GO:

DIDO AND AENEAS

Queen's Theatre, Playhouse Lane & Gilles Arcade, Adelaide
Friday 7 October & Saturday 8 October, 7:30pm and Sunday 9 October, 2:00pm

Tickets: Adults $40 / Conc $35
Bookings: www.trybooking.com

CAST:

Bethany Hill - Dido
Elizabeth Campbell - Sorceress
David Hidden - Aeneas
Karen Fitz-Gibbon - Belinda

Ensemble Galante is a network of performers on period instruments dedicated to giving dynamic performances of music from a past era. The group focuses on music from the High Baroque, Galante, and early classical styles of the 18th Century.

Theater Fans' Choice Awards
2026 Theater Fans' Choice Awards - Live Stats
Best Direction of a Play - Top 3
1. Joe Mantello - Death of a Salesman
19.5% of votes
2. Duncan MacMillan, Jeremy Herrin - Every Brilliant Thing
17.4% of votes
3. Whitney White - Liberation
9.8% of votes

Need more Australia - Adelaide Theatre News in your life?
Sign up for all the news on the Spring season, discounts & more...


Videos


MACHINAL in Australia - Adelaide MACHINAL
Goodwood Theatre & Studios (5/21-5/30)
Boogie Wonderland in Australia - Adelaide Boogie Wonderland
Adelaide Royal Coach (7/10-7/12)
The Heartbreak Choir in Australia - Adelaide The Heartbreak Choir
State Theatre Company South Australia (11/20-12/05)
Faulty Towers The Dining Experience - Darwin in Australia - Adelaide Faulty Towers The Dining Experience - Darwin
Oaks Elan Darwin (8/20-8/22)
Log Boy in Australia - Adelaide Log Boy
State Theatre Company South Australia (10/01-10/10)
Faulty Towers The Dining Experience - Adelaide in Australia - Adelaide Faulty Towers The Dining Experience - Adelaide
Adelaide Royal Coach (6/20-6/20)
Commentary in Australia - Adelaide Commentary
State Theatre Company South Australia (8/21-9/05)
The Importance of Being Earnest in Australia - Adelaide The Importance of Being Earnest
State Theatre Company South Australia (5/08-5/30)
The Heartbreak Choir in Australia - Adelaide The Heartbreak Choir
State Theatre Company South Australia (11/20-12/05)
Uncle Vanya - but there’s ASMR soap cutting videos playing in the bottom right corner in Australia - Adelaide Uncle Vanya - but there’s ASMR soap cutting videos playing in the bottom right corner
State Theatre Company South Australia (7/09-7/18)