King's Head Theatre Announces Zero-hours CARMEN

The King's Head Theatre announces its first opera of 2019, a radical new take on the world's greatest tragedy, 'Carmen',
in a new English version by Ashley Pearson and Mary Franklin. The Olivier Award nominated producers of La Traviata, La bohème and Tosca present a vivid, compelling and devastatingly powerful take on Georges Bizet's masterpiece.

Carmen works zero-hour, minimum wage jobs on the frontline of Britain's crumbling industry. Jose falls madly in love with her, but soon his passion morphs into something uglier, and far more troubling, and Carmen realises she might have made a fatal mistake...

Sung in English, and blending stark emotional realism with some of the world's most beloved music, this highly original new production examines toxic relationships in a society on the brink of collapse.

Carmen is at the King's Head Theatre from Thursday 7 February - Saturday 9 March 2019.

Artistic Director, Adam Spreadbury-Maher said: At the King's Head Theatre, we believe passionately in disrupting the preconceptions and conventional wisdom of how to make opera. I'm overjoyed to be working with Ashley, Juliane and Mary, who began her career with us as a Trainee Resident Director, as they tear up the rulebook. Their bold, fresh, uncompromising take on Carmen is like nothing you'll have ever seen before!

Director, Mary Franklin, added: Carmen is not a femme fatale, she is simply a young woman who falls out of love. Almost every woman in the world can relate to her story. It's a story of the uncontrollable nature of love and lust, and of what happens after happily ever after.

Ashley Pearson - Director & Co-Librettist

Ashley Pearson is a London-based librettist, writer and director. Ashley has worked as an Associate Director with Opera Works at the English National Opera and as an Assistant Director at the Royal Opera House, Royal College of Music, Lyric Opera Studio Weimar and OperaUpClose. Ashley's writing, including the libretto for a Shakespeare inspired opera, Music Oft hath Such a Charm, and modern adaptations of Shakespeare and Ibsen, has been seen in London and around the UK. Ashley holds a Masters in Theatre Directing from East 15 Acting School, and has studied theatre at GITIS (Russian University of Theatre Arts) and Seacoast Theatre Centre. She holds a BA&Sc specialising in Mathematics and Theatre from Quest University Canada.

Mary Franklin - Director & Co-Librettist

Mary is the Artistic Director and Co-Founder of Rough Haired Pointer. Education includes BA Hons in English Literature (Oxford University). Directing credits include The Diary Of A Nobody (King's Head Theatre, White Bear Theatre); Christie In Love (King's Head Theatre); The Young Visiters (Tabard Theatre, Hen and Chickens Theatre); Noonday Demons (King's Head Theatre), the World Premiere of Joe Orton's Fred & Madge (Hope Theatre); Marco Polo (Hen and Chickens Theatre); The Boy Who Cried (Hope Theatre, Tabard Theatre) and Cleopatra (King's Head Theatre, Hope Theatre). Assistant directing includes La Traviata (Opera Holland Park); Blown Away (Lyric Hammersmith, UK Tour); Tosca (Soho Theatre, UK Tour); Quasimodo (King's Head Theatre); Filter (Sadler's Wells); Arab Nights (Soho Theatre) and The Invention Of Love (Oxford Playhouse).

Juliane Gallant - Musical Director

Canadian pianist and conductor Juliane Gallant holds a Masters of Performance in Piano Accompaniment from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Juliane has worked on Don Giovanni, Carmen (Opera on Location); Cosi fan tutte, Orphée aux enfers (St Paul's Opera); The Tales of Hoffmann revisited (Opera Mio); The Medium (Magnetic Opera); La bohème (Clapham Opera Festival); Il barbiere di Siviglia (Rossini Young Artists) and Carmen, Ulla's Odyssey (Opera Upclose). She also regularly performs with Opera Holland Park's award-winning outreach programme Inspire. Juliane has appeared at Wigmore Hall, the Barbican and on West End stages. She was one of 12 women participating in the first Women Conductors course, a collaboration between the Royal Opera House, the National Opera Studio, and the Royal Philharmonic Society, and is a current bursary recipient from the Opera Awards Foundation.

The King's Head Theatre was established in 1970. Passionate about championing ethically produced fringe theatre, we are known for our challenging work and support of young artists. Last year 116,151 audience members saw a show of ours: 44,607 at our 110-seater home on Upper Street and 71,544 elsewhere. At our home in Islington we had 774 performances last year of 95 different shows. We are committed to fighting prejudice through the work we stage, the artists and staff we work with and by producing work for minority audience groups. We believe in fair pay for all on the fringe and create accessible routes for early career artists to stage their work; work we are passionate about. Last year we announced the theatre is on the move. Subject to a fundraising campaign, the King's Head Theatre will move into a custom-built space in the heart of Islington Square, directly behind its current home securing the future of the venue for generations to come.