DIE FLEDERMAUS WIll Play Pop Up Venues

Baseless Fabric, Finalists at the 2018 Off West End Awards for Best Opera Production, return with a new production of Strauss' Die Fledermaus. The production will pop up in more than 30 high street venues in Merton and Wandsworth this August, with free, unticketed performances for all, as well as being adapted for two indoor performances at the Arcola Theatre as part of the 2019 Grimeborn Festival. The cast includes soprano Claire Wild, who has extensive credits with Welsh National Opera, Opera North and English National Opera.

Following on from the success of two previous Merton Street Operas, Drifting Dragons and Cosi Fan Tutte, Baseless Fabric are thrilled to announce their new adaptation of Die Fledermaus, in a new adaptation by Artistic Director Joanna Turner, and with new arrangements by composer/conductor Leo Geyer. Die Fledermaus is a light-hearted, life-loving story, complete with vivid characters and memorable tunes, taking its cue from the fact that Die Fledermaus literally means 'The Bat' - which in this modern take is interpreted as a nod to Batman!

This high street adaptation will pop up in cafes, pubs and supermarkets to give local people the chance to experience opera, who might not ordinarily do so. Our performances aim to change attitudes to the art form and encourage people to realise that opera can be fun and not elitist, expensive, boring or irrelevant, as it can often be perceived. This August, the locations will include Morrison's, Waitrose, ASDA, indoor markets in Tooting and Pollard's Hill, pubs and train stations, and libraries throughout South London.

For the Arcola's Grimeborn festival, the show will be adapted with design by Marina Hadjilouca and lighting design by Jack Weir. This will give an opportunity to experience this innovative modern re-imagining in a new close-up context, and hear talented young singers and instrumentalists performing up close and personal.

Formed in 2014, and registered as a charity in 2016, Baseless Fabric Theatre is a Merton based site-specific promenade theatre & opera company. They bring opera and theatre directly into the community to bring new audiences to art forms that they might not ordinarily have the opportunity to experience and to enable people to see the world around them in new ways. They passionately believe music and theatre have the power to build community and transform society, and partner with local community organisations to involve people through outreach workshops, especially with young people and the elderly.

They are funded by the Wimbledon Foundation's new Arts and Community Engagement Fund (ACE), Arts Council England, Merton Council, the Samuel Gardner Memorial Trust and Cockayne Grants for the Arts. This funding has allowed them to develop an extensive outreach programme teaching young people across Merton and Wandsworth about opera and engaging elderly citizens who may not be able to follow their promenade performance live along the high street. For this they work in close partnership with the Merton Music Foundation and local children's charity Jigsaw4u.

For more information visit the Website (www.baselessfabric.co.uk)

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