Critically acclaimed street opera company Baseless Fabric will present 10 free street performances of Carmen reimagined this summer on the high streets across Wandsworth and Merton from 4th – 21st August 2022.

Following the success of 2019’s sell-out Die Fledermaus (★★★★ The Guardian, ★★★★ The Stage) and their recent Cosi Fan Tutte, which was an Off West End Award Finalist for Best Opera Production, Baseless Fabric return this August with their new production of Carmen. With a re-imagined score for violin, accordion and bassoon by acclaimed young composer Leo Geyer of Bizet’s famous tunes and a colloquial contemporary English libretto by director and librettist Joanna Turner, this daring new production places Bizet’s characters directly on today’s high street.

Supermarket check-out girl Carmen brazenly flirts with the new security guard Don Jose, much to the confusion and embarrassment of his fiancée Micaela. Things get even more complicated as Carmen’s ex-boyfriend turned TikTok celebrity Escamillo also shows up. Follow the characters’ entangled love stories in this bold contemporary re-imagining of the classic Carmen story for London life today.

This original high street adaptation will pop up in over 30 locations across Wandsworth and Merton including cafes, pubs and supermarkets to give local people the chance to experience opera, who might not ordinarily do so.

Baseless Fabric Theatre is a Merton based site-specific promenade theatre and opera company who 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. They partner with local community organisations to involve people through outreach workshops, especially with young people and the elderly.

STREET PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE
Thu 4th Aug 5-6pm Colliers Wood
Fri 5th Aug 1-2pm Mitcham
Fri 5th Aug 5-6pm Roehampton
Thu 18th Aug 5-6pm Wandsworth Town
Fri 19th Aug 11am-12pm Pollards Hill
Fri 19th Aug 5-6pm Clapham Junction
Sat 20th Aug 1-2pm Raynes Park
Sat 20th Aug 5-6pm Wimbledon
Sun 21st Aug 1-2pm Putney (starting point: Putney Library)
Sun 21st Aug 5-6pm Wimbledon Village

Performances are unticketed. Follow Baseless Fabric for updates on starting points:

#HighStCarmen

Baseless Fabric are funded by the Wimbledon Foundation, Arts Council England, Merton Council, Wandsworth Council, the Samuel Gardner Memorial Trust, the Garfield Weston Foundation, the Foyle Foundation, 3 Monkies Trust, the Humphrey Richardson Taylor Charitable Trust, Cockayne London Community Foundation, the Royal Victoria Hall Foundation & the Unity Theatre Trust.

This funding has allowed them to develop an extensive outreach programme teaching young people across Merton and Wandsworth about opera, working in close partnership with the Merton Music Foundation, Wandsworth Music and local children’s charity Jigsaw4u.

Cast: Jonathan Cooke, Susannah Horowitz, Nick Morris andClaire Wild.

Band: Leo Geyer, Ilona Suomalainen, Louisa Till.