L'Enfant et les Sortileges: an Opéra-Dansé by Colette and Ravel

This summer, find your inner child.  

Intrigued by the thought of a fantasy opera-dance in which a teapot and a cup foxtrot and sing ragtime, and two cats sing a duet in authentic cat language?  Where things are not always as they seem, and the world of the shadows and reality collide in a magical, imaginative space beyond the ordinary.   

L’Enfant et les Sortilèges is a one-act opera-dance, with music by Ravel set to a libretto by the French novelist Colette. It contains all the classic elements of fairytale: the inanimate springing to life, then fear and danger which are finally dissipated by love. A little boy, shut in his room by his mother, wreaks his fury on his furniture only for it, along with the plants and animals of the garden, to terrifyingly come to life to object.   Poulenc’s La courte paille (a set of seven songs originally written for voice and piano) serves as a prelude to L’Enfant, setting the scene for the opera through a series of moments before the main story takes over.

Trinity Laban vocal students and instrumentalists collaborate with final year contemporary dancers on the staging of this magical, mesmerising production.   

Directed by Ruth Mariner, known for her inventive and immersive theatrical productions, with Musical Direction by Dr. Leo Geyer fresh from touring his award-winning Lost Music of Auschwitz and choreography by Trinity Laban’s Will Aitchison, this promises to be a highlight of our summer performance season.