Le Carnaval de Venise

Announcing our 2025 summer festival show: Le Carnaval de Venise (1699), a circus-opera with music by André Campra

To celebrate our fifth anniversary, we’re colliding Baroque opera with the electrifying world of the circus – think aerial artists and acrobats! Campra’s dramatic music is a feast of styles and forms; folk dances featuring toe-tapping percussion riffs contrast with lyrical arias and joyful chorus numbers, with lyrics in both French and Italian (oh, and some of our English, too).

Act I opens with a stage manager nagging their colleagues for being so behind with setting up. The Goddess Minerva arrives; shocked at the state of preparations, she calls upon the Gods of Music, Dance, Painting and Architecture to help create something spectacular. Later we meet two pairs of lovers at comedic cross purposes. The plot culminates with a ‘play within a play’ to celebrate the Venice Carnival. When this production of the Orpheus myth is finally mounted, it proves the perfect opportunity for one of the couples to elope, happy at last.

Starring mezzo-soprano Katie Bray and soprano Julieth Lozano and lead by director James Hurley and associate director Rebecca Solomon (circus, movement), we promise you an in-the-round show that is fast-paced, dramatic and just a little bit participatory… The spectacle will unfold under an atmospheric circus tent in the grounds of The Vache (or Venice 2.0).

Grounds will open at 3pm for picnicking and exploring before the opera, featuring our signature installations and musical pop-ups. Act I will start at 5.30pm, with an hour-long dining interval at c.6.30pm. Act II will start at c.7.30pm. The show will end at c.8.30pm.

Saturday 30 & Sunday 31 August
Saturday 6 & Sunday 7 September
3pm ’til late at The Vache, HP8 4SD