The Elixir of Love at Owlpen Manor
Thu 31 Jul 2025 6:00 PM - 9:30 PM
Owlpen Manor, GL11 5BZ
Description
Thursday 31 July 2025, The Elixir of Love
After the success of their 2024 visit, Wild Arts return to Owlpen with Donizetti's dreamy, sun-kissed comedy The Elixir of Love, set in an Italian seaside village in the 1950s and performed in a mischievous new translation.
You will enjoy the performance thrillingly close up, in the Pole Barn, made using traditional roundwood timber framing techniques using larch from the Owlpen valley.
There will be a long interval for picnics in the renowned Owlpen formal gardens.
The opera will be fully staged, in costume and sung in English by a cast of exceptional singers, with a chamber orchestra of top musicians, conducted by Wild Arts' Artistic Director Orlando Jopling.
Deep in a private Cotswold valley, Owlpen Manor has been described as “the most beautiful place in England” with terraced formal gardens and magnificent 17th century yews. The Tudor Manor House is steeped in 800 years of history, with Arts and Crafts furniture and wonderful views across the valley.
6pm The Elixir of Love
You are welcome to arrive from 5pm to set up your picnic in the gardens, and bring food, drink, rugs, chairs, tables, friends, and candelabras. The performance will start at 6pm, with a 90-minute picnic interval at approximately 7pm before Act II starts at 8.30pm. Curtain down will be at approximately 930pm and you are welcome to stay after the show to enjoy a drink with the stars, under the stars.
Directed by Guido Martin-Brandis, designed by Sophie Lincoln, and conducted by Orlando Jopling.
Tickets and information
Dress - Summer Smart
Front rows £125 | Mid section £105 | Further back £85
Young person's ticket £25 (for under 21s)
Please book early - last year's opera sold out.
Cast/Creatives
Director Guido Martin-Brandis
Musical Director Orlando Jopling
Adina Galina Averina
Nemorino Matthew Bell / Xavier Hetherington
Dulcamara Alex Jones
Belcore Timothy Nelson
Gianetta Bethan Terry
Lauretta Laura Mekhail
Claudio Eamonn Walsh
Roberto Alex Pratley
The Wild Arts Ensemble, led by Sijie Chen, is no ordinary opera orchestra - the players are the pick of the UK's finest chamber musicians.
Wild Arts
In just two years Wild Arts has enjoyed startling growth and has gained a series of five star reviews and accolades from the UK press (★★★★★ Opera Now, ★★★★ The Guardian).
We take opera to beautiful places in the UK and Europe, in a one-planet-living way, adhering to the Theatre Green Book and showing how the arts can thrive in a sustainable way. We give opportunities to exceptionally talented performers at the beginning of their careers, and over 500 primary school pupils are actively involved each year in our work. We would like to expand our programme and would value your support in doing so.
Our long-term goal is to create a truly green opera house and performance space, set in a bio-diverse landscape, constructed entirely from sustainable materials, and with a full programme of music, opera, education and cultural opportunity, all produced within the planetary boundaries - ie the planet's ability to heal itself.
Find out more information about our outreach work here, and our public performances here.
Location
Owlpen Manor, GL11 5BZ