THIRTY YEARS OF BAMPTON CLASSICAL OPERA

verger of the church at Bridgnorth was a menace. All went well until the interval when the audience were to have dinner in a tent outside. The food had been delayed and we should have started the second part some time ago when Jason, the conductor, said softly to himself, ‘it will affect the production if the delay goes on much longer’. The verger rounded on him and shouted that he was arrogant and pushy…. Jason was appalled and turned to go into the church. I was next to him and thought ‘Oh God, he’s going to cry - if he does there will be no second part of the opera’, so I rushed after him, grabbed his shoulders, swung him round and said hard into his face ‘You know who you are, you know you’re going to be a great conductor and you know that that little man is nothing at all. You wouldn’t give him the thought that you even listened to him, now, would you?’ He took a deep breath and the show went on.”

A more fruitful high-profile festival emerged when we were invited to the 2005 Buxton Festival, a long-established feature in the UK operatic calendar. Buxton is blessed with a magnificent Edwardian Opera House, a masterpiece by Frank Matcham, one of the greatest theatre designers. Our now established reputation for rare repertory fitted closely with the Festival’s own profile and pursuit of the recherché. The invitation necessitated a major shift in our ambition and working methods. We selected to perform The Barber of Seville – but not (of course!) the famous Rossini version. Ours was Paisiello’s earlier setting from 1782, once triumphantly successful across Europe until Rossini’s setting knocked it off its perch. Our modest locally-produced scenery would hardly be suitable for the large stage, but we were introduced to the wonderful designer Nigel Hook. Nigel’s infectious humour and inventiveness matched the Bampton ethos well and the Barber proved to be one of the funniest and best performed of all our productions. It was Nigel’s brilliant idea to set it in a 1960s caravan at a grotesque English seaside holiday camp “of timeless ghastliness: (The Times). We engaged a marvellous and energetic young cast including Rebecca Bottone, Paul Carey Jones, Adrian Dwyer and Nicholas Merryweather, and with two performances at Bampton before swiftly moving to Buxton,