(Photo: Neil Harrison) Since Cameron Menzies took on the position of artistic director of Northern Ireland Opera in 2020, the company has undergone something of a Renaissance. Although working on a slim budget, enough to fund only one main stage production each season, its imaginative and innovative approach has led to it staging a stream of high-quality short works, which {…}
Fairytales have not been kind to stepmothers. Usually depicted as jealous, manipulative and vicious, with a predilection for maltreating, disinheriting and murdering their stepchildren, stepmothers are probably on par with another favorite hate figure of the genre, the wicked witch. A typical example is found in “The Juniper Tree,” taken from Grimms’ Fairytales, published in 1812. This stepmother is not {…}
(Photo: Neil Harrison Photography) Northern Ireland Opera is not flush with money. Fortunately, however, it has an imaginative artistic director in Cameron Menzies, whose innovative approach ensures that the company is able to provide a wide range of productions over the season, which it tours to locations across the province. Unable to afford more than a single fully staged opera {…}