THE BOATSWAIN’S MATE
Arcola Theatre (Grimeborn) | August 2022
North Wall Arts Centre, Oxford | September 2022
Jubilee Hall, Aldeburgh | September 2022
St George’s Theatre, Great Yarmouth | October 2022
Music and libretto by Ethel Smyth (1913-14), after a short story by William Wymark Jacobs
“Fix a date for Dreamland Margate…”
Summer 1953: peace reigns in Europe, and the waters of the English Channel are troubled only by holidaymakers. Young and old alike have flocked to Margate for summer loving and strolls on the promenade.
But at a quiet pub set back from the seafront, the landlady has a nuisance on her hands. She’s confronted with a suitor who simply won’t take ‘no’ for an answer. And, when he comes up with a last-ditch plan to win her heart, our formidable heroine gives him more than he’d bargained for...
Written after a stint campaigning with the Suffragettes, Dame Ethel Smyth’s opera put female emancipation centre stage when it premiered a century ago. With rollicking humour, romantic yearning and a new arrangement for piano trio, Spectra Ensemble’s acclaimed revival brings this neglected gem to a new audience.
Director: Cecilia Stinton
Musical Director: John Warner
Designer: Ellie Roser
Lighting Designer: Catja Hamilton
Producer: Jessie Anand
Cast: Shaun Aquilina, Robert Winslade Anderson, Beca Davies, Philippe Durrant, Josephine Goddard, Devon Harrison (cover), Naho Koizumi (cover), Dominic Lee (cover), John Upperton
Band: Emily Earl, Nina Kiva (cover), Meera Priyanka Raja, John Warner
★★★★★
‘Josephine Goddard is a revelation’
The Stage
★★★★
’perky, intelligent and well-articulated’
British Theatre
‘superb singing and characterisation’
Opera Today
‘deliciously sassy’
The Guardian
Images © Lidia Crisafulli