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

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.

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