The Shoreditch Consul

Secrets from Shoreditch

After a pilot project in the summe of 2010, The Shoreditch Consul took wings and, thanks to Arts Council of England funding and a collaboration with Soho Theatre in London, became ‘The Secret Consul’.

In an atmospheric Grade ll Listed building in Limehouse – The Old Town Hall – 25 performances of The Secret Consul took place with an international cast of emerging professional opera singers working alongside refugees, asylum-seekers and recent migrants to North and East London.

 The Secret Consul

They say he’s a fair man, a kind man – though nobody’s seen him. Ever. From bitter experience, what we do know is this: he likes to keep you waiting.

Waiting for that little document you need; for that stamp you can’t cross the border without. (Not in broad daylight, anyway). Please don’t let it be in the back of a truck, in the dark with smugglers and gangsters! Or over the ocean wide in a leaky boat at the whim of cut-throats and pirates. You the already persecuted, the already pursued.

The Consul, though, he’s a civilised man, we’ve heard. With the best of intentions, we’ve heard. But always, always keeping us waiting. So, come with us. Wait with us. Waiting – and wanting – to speak to the Consul, to hear from the Consul. Just a word, just a whisper – or even a visa. Just one little visa.  This time… Maybe this time?

So, buy yourself a ticket, our little passport to joy and freedom. Join with us …  come to us … help us  resist his cunning plans, his machinations.

The Secret Consul. Guerilla opera, site-specific and somewhere in deepest Limehouse. A mash, a montage of Gian-Carlo Menotti’s magical musical drama The Consul.  An international cast of emerging opera stars. A chorus of London’s newly-arrived.

“If you’re an opera cynic – go. If you’re an opera fan – go. Very exciting work.”

Tickets from The Soho Theatre online. Box Office 020 7478 0100

The show runs from Wednesday June 22nd to Saturday July 16th 2011.

Press Night June  23rd.

Performances: Tuesday to Saturday 7.30. Matinees Saturday and Sunday 3.00.

Tickets: £15, Concessions: £12.50. Special deal for Refugees and Asylum Seekers.