Welcome to our Carnival: an Orchestral Theatre staging of Saint-Saëns’ Carnival of the Animals, followed by a new commission by Richard Ayres.
Our new production, created in collaboration with physical theatre company Frantic Assembly, transforms the concert into a museum visit in Paris around 1900, in which the musicians and the instruments are sounding exhibits. Carnival is performed alongside a new work by Richard Ayres, The Anatomical Study of an Orchestra, which explores what happens when the carnival is over and just the performers are left. Do you dare enter?
Images © Julian Guidera
Christopher Akrill actor/dancer
Naomi Frederick narrator
Co-directed by Jane Mitchell and Scott Graham
Lighting design by Simisola Majekodunmi
Production design by Jon Bausor
Script by Kate Wakeling
Script translation by Jürgen and Adelheid Dormagen (Germany only)
An Aurora Orchestra/Southbank Centre co-production developed in collaboration with Frantic Assembly