\r\n\r\n28, 30 September, 2, 3 October 2021 |
\r\nBlackheath Halls Opera |
\r\nBlackheath Halls, London |
\r\n
\r\n\r\n
\r\n\r\nDirector | James Hurley |
\r\nConductor | Christopher Stark |
\r\nDesigner | Rachel Szmukler |
\r\nLighting & Video Designer | Jo Palmer |
\r\nMovement Director | Jasmine Ricketts |
\r\n
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\r\n\r\n\r\nPhotographs by Lidia Crisafulli |
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","production_info2":"","bio":"James began his career in 2009 with English Touring Opera. He has since worked on the directing staff at the Metropolitan Opera, Royal Opera House, Salzburg Festival, Royal Danish Opera, National Theatre, Barbican, Edinburgh International Festival, English National Opera, Glyndebourne, and Opera North.
His productions encompass premieres of new and rediscovered pieces alongside works from the core repertoire. Directing includes La rondine (Opera North), The Magic Flute (Wild Arts), Chérubin, Le docteur miracle (Royal Academy Opera), Figaros Bryllup (Kilden Teater-og Konserthus), Don Giovanni (British Youth Opera), L'elisir d'amore (Iford Arts), l'Ospedale (Aldeburgh / Wilton's Music Hall / Bury Court Opera), Mansfield Park (Opera South), and La belle Hélène (Blackheath Halls), which was nominated for an International Opera Award. James has also directed revivals for English National Opera, Opera North, Glyndebourne and English Touring Opera.
James' site-responsive stagings include the world-premiere of modern operatic triptych, Snow, set across three floors of the Bussey Building in Peckham, and the multimedia opera Beauty and the 7 Beasts, written by six different composer-librettist teams, which was premiered at Brixton Jamm in 2022. In 2012-2013 he was creative director of Opera di Peroni, an innovative performance campaign with GO Opera and electronic artist, Kwes, which presented opera in unconventional locations across the UK. From 2015-18 he directed four touring productions for Pop-Up Opera and his acclaimed 2016 staging of I Capuleti e i Montecchi for the company was filmed as part of the BBC / British Council's Shakespeare 400 celebrations.
James has considerable experience working with young artists. In addition to his work with BYO and RAM he has directed opera scenes for the Royal College of Music, the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and Trinity Laban. He is also a trustee of Opera South, a regional touring company that exists to provide performing opportunities for emerging artists.
As a translator, James has created new English versions of Donizetti's Rita and Chabrier's Une education manquée.
","bio_images_largest":6,"reviews":"\r\n
“Puccini’s La rondine (1917), often dismissed as a minor operetta when compared with his larger masterpieces, receives a welcome reassessment in James Hurley’s hugely attractive new production, set in 1930s Paris… [the] dizzying central cafe scene is a masterclass in tightly organised chaos, with each member of the chorus a clearly defined character, constantly on the move, ordering drinks, eyeing each other up, confusing the waiters… Puccini’s flighty swallow soars”
THE OBSERVER\r\n
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“Hurley set the action in a concrete cityscape redolent of the 1970s. Giovanni's residence is a penthouse of a big apartment block, presumably also housing Don Ottavio and the Commendatore. The murder of the latter takes place in the basement car-park whilst Zerlina and Masetto's wedding-party arrives in the reception area. There is clever use of an elevator to take characters in and out of the action and the involvement of hellish forces from the afterlife is a great concept, as part of a cogent and thought-provoking staging.”
CLASSICALSOURCE\r\n
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“A scalpel-sharp satire on the medical profession brought uncomfortably up to date in director James Hurley's slick production.”
THE SPECTATOR\r\n
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“L'Ospedale is translated into a Brass-Eye style satire on 21st-century mental health provision by Hurley... The humour is savagely politicised (Abati's prologue and epilogue become speeches from a duplicitous minister in the House of Commons, complete with baying backbenchers.) The singing and playing is sublime, and the acting is fearless in its physicality”
THE TIMES\r\n
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“...an operatic version of Carry on Matron, only darker... an amiable curiosity, done with imagination.”
THE GUARDIAN\r\n
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“In James Hurley's up-to-the-minute production, with Rachel Szmukler's hospital ward setting, the allegorical figure of Sanita (Health), is incarnated by Jeremy Hunt, promulgating policies uncannily similar to the doctor's remedies... The newly refurbished Wilton's Music Hall is the ideal space for this spookily topical and entertaining endeavour.”
EVENING STANDARD\r\n
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“...a sharply observed piece of social commentary - an operatic Private Eye, with its gaze turned mercilessly on the healthcare system...given a pretty un-improvable contemporary premiere”
THE ARTS DESK\r\n
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“Director James Hurley and designer April Dalton take a tongue-in-cheek glance towards the eighteenth-century. Period costumes are sumptuous, the rouge is slapstick and the bygone rococo world is filtered through bright modern lights. There's a touch of Peter Greenaway in the juxtaposition of cool gentility and vibrant excess... The three principal soprano roles were well differentiated and engagingly characterised... This production [of Chérubin] certainly sparkled with the spirit of make believe and held us under its spell.”
OPERA TODAY\r\n
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“...the cast, directed by James Hurley, skilfully balanced the opera's [Chérubin] mixture of nostalgia and farce.”
SUNDAY EXPRESS
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“The signal achievement of this production of La rondine may be that James Hurley (director) and Kerem Hasan (conductor) have rehabilitated it to its proper place, against the perception that it’s the least successful of Puccini’s mature operas.”
THE ARTS DESK\r\n
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“Don Giovanni is a masterpiece, but, constantly shifting in tone and momentum, it needs skilful handling. James Hurley cunningly located his production for British Youth Opera...in the 1970s. There are moments of sleazy period glamour, but violence is never far away. Hurley traps the characters in the hotel foyer, the basement car park and Giovanni's suite before dumping them in a chiaroscuro urban wasteland for the tricky sequence that opens Act II. The action is smartly and coherently organised...”
THE STAGE\r\n
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“a highly physical comedy of institutional and individual insanity... Hurley played cleverly with our sympathies, trapping us in the act of laughing at, as well as with, the lunatics taking over the asylum... Lamenting the death of a golden age is something of a tradition in these pages. How nice, then, to hear something of a future golden age, at least in early opera, with healthy vocal production, expressive singing, dynamic playing and fearless acting.”
OPERA\r\n
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“...a frisky account of one of the few genuinely comic operas, Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia... James Hurley's production buzzes with rude energy... and the singers commit to the comedy while skilfully negotiating Rossini's outrageous vocalism.”
EVENING STANDARD\r\n
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“Using just a handful of props, director James Hurley creates a contemporary gangland setting, riven by revenge and brutality. He also draws some impressively detailed acting from the performers... [the] tomb scene is as emotionally wrenching as in any staging I've seen. Some of the audience were openly sobbing; my own eyes were pricking. Bellini must have been looking down in delight... It's opera without the frills, pared down to the thrills.”
BLOUIN ARTINFO\r\n
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“...alters Rossini's creation to an extent that even Calixto Bieito, given entirely free rein by English National Opera, would not contemplate...but its cleverness derives from the fact that for all its innovation it parallels the original very closely... James Hurley's production is tight and the touches throughout amusing.”
musicOMH\r\n
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“James Hurley... sets Idomeneo in our time. With modern references carefully thought-through and the immediacy of no audience-member being more than four rows from the action, this Idomeneo hits home with the visceral force of a live TV news-story from a beleaguered war zone beset by pestilence. It is absolutely thrilling.”
CLASSICAL SOURCE\r\n
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“…[there’s] something vital at the heart of La rondine and James Hurley’s production went all out to make it sing… There’s energetic dancing in the Paris nightclub. Crowds adopt languid poses in tailcoats and flapper dresses, and Magda and Ruggero share their much-delayed first kiss beneath a cascade of flowers… this is a production that offers real rewards.”
THE SPECTATOR\r\n
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“Hurley's strength as a director is his ability to inject energy and dramatic commitment into an opera. As with the last Pop-Up production of his that I saw, a Tarantino-esque I Capuleti e i Montecchi, his stage (here a church chancel, although it could be anywhere and any configuration) fizzes with attention to detail and an understanding of pace.”
WHATSONSTAGE\r\n
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“James Hurley's staging [of Idomeneo]... integrated chorus and extras into a brutal contemporary reading of the piece, with lots of security-police aggro and the “sea monster” replaced by diseased incomers puking blood... Thrilling.”
SUNDAY TIMES\r\n
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“...director James Hurley confronted us with a beach society in crisis, insinuating his immense chorus into the action at every point. It was all about the people. Marooned in the sand dunes, mixing compassion with brutality, the leaderless Cretans could barely cope with an influx of Trojan 'boat people' refugees, not least the children. When Neptune's plague strikes, a graphic presentation of buckets and bloody bandages hints at Ebola. With the monster on the loose, emergency services - improvised under the designer Rachel Szmukler's sputtering arc-lamps - teeter on the brink. There is no money, no order and only a tenuous thread of community spirit. All this made for an immersive, in-the-round theatrical experience... When opera is presented on this scale and with this directness, it's hard not to be moved.”
OPERA\r\n
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“Director James Hurley's staging updates the action to the present... the satire was certainly au courant, the gags inventive, and the polemic provocative... exuberant fun... it communicated directly and with thought-provoking candour.”
OPERA TODAY\r\n
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“This production is a triumph for James Hurley, who makes his directorial debut; energetic, heartfelt and visually stunning, and capturing all the passion of true love as told through Puccini’s breathtaking score.”
EAST MIDLANDS THEATRE\r\n
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“...it is surely Blackheath Opera's most ambitious undertaking yet... It's colourful, frothy, ridiculous and hugely enjoyable...”
CLASSICAL SOURCE\r\n
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“...opera doesn't come much more heartwarming than Blackheath Hall's outstanding production of Offenbach's sizzling La belle Hélène... James Hurley directs with real wit”
THE OBSERVER
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“La rondine - delectable Puccini by Opera North… James Hurley’s elegant staging, with a whirling party scene”
THE TIMES\r\n
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“Updated from the mid 19th century to the interwar years not too long after its 1917 premiere, Opera North’s La rondine (The Swallow) is the final justification, if such were needed, for the company’s Green Season… James Hurley manages the change of tone as adroitly as the constant comings and goings of the first two acts and is rewarded by wonderfully committed and skilful performances from a cast of newcomers (or near-newcomers) to the company and chorus members.”
THE REVIEWS HUB\r\n
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“Hurley's efficient contemporary production relies on its children to imagine us into Humperdinck's fairy-tale fantasy. A fridge, assorted mops and buckets and some cardboard boxes offer an unpromising set of tools, but the cast conjure plenty of magic from them... [Mother] and Father tread a careful line between near-tragedy (there's an almost Wozzeck-like edge to their domestic scene, powerfully sung) and broad comedy, giving the tale the dangerous edge it needs”
THE ARTS DESK\r\n
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“Figaros bryllup, denne klassiske forviklingskomedien som Mozart gjorde udødelig opera av, er i Kilden blitt en sann fest for folk flest... Denne omplasseringen av miljø og roller er meget godt gjennomført, til ytterste konsekvens, og gjør faktisk handlingen både troverdig og ikke minst forståelig. I 2016 er forhold melllom overordnet og underordnet mer begripelig enn forholdet mellom adel og tjenerskap på 1700-tallet.”
[“The Marriage of Figaro, this classic situation comedy that Mozart made into an immortal opera has become a joy for everyone......the action is made contemporary... Transplanting place and roles in this way has been very well carried through, to the utmost detail, and makes the plot both credible and not least comprehensible. In 2016 the relationship between superior and subordinate is easier to grasp than that of aristocracy and servants in the 18th century.”]
Fædrelandsvennen\r\n
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“...director James Hurley ensured that the production was always on the move and busy with natural, well-integrated movement that explored the full range of possibilities in the space. The cast were apparently fully relaxed and enjoying themselves...[a] wonderful, life-affirming production”
BRITISH THEATRE\r\n
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“James Hurley's imaginative production of Semele at the Gatehouse lays bare all the emotional content and adds some extra touches... The 1950s setting for the Cadmus, Semele, Ino family suggested an era of sexual repression, making the cavorting in Arcadia all the more shocking or liberating, depending on your point of view.”
BACHTRACK\r\n
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“James Hurley's production works effectively in Rachel Szmukler's straightforward sets and each of the five singers makes an appreciable mark... a new opera company makes an auspicious debut”
THE STAGE\r\n
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“...L'Elisir d'Amore, the second production in Iford's season, is given a performance of sunny good humour... James Hurley has set the story in 1920s California, where Adina grows oranges and sells juice to passing motorists. His direction is fast and funny... A vivacious young cast captures the spirit of Donizetti's rural romance.”
THE STAGE\r\n
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\r\n","cv":"2024
RUDDIGORE
Revival Director
Opera North
THE MAGIC FLUTE
Director
Wild Arts
THE MAGIC FLUTE
Assistant Director
Glyndebourne
THE HANDMAID'S TALE
Revival Director
English National Opera
2023
LA RONDINE
Director
Opera North
COSI FAN TUTTE
Revival Director
Wild Arts @ Abesters
BLUE
Staff Director
English National Opera
THE RHINEGOLD
Staff Director
English National Opera
2022
THE YEOMEN OF THE GUARD
Staff Director
English National Opera
BASTIEN / EDUCATION MANQUEE
Director & Translator
Opera South
BEAUTY & THE 7 BEASTS
Director
The Opera Story, Brixton Jamm
2021
OPERA SCENES
Director
Royal Conservatoire of Scotland
VENUS AND ADONIS
Director
Blackheath Halls
RITA
Director & Translator
Opera South
OPERA SCENES
Director
Royal College of Music
2020
THE RAKES PROGRESS (film)
Director
Blackheath Halls
LIFE IS SWEET / LIFE IS SHIT (film)
Director
The Opera Story
CHÉRUBIN
Director
Royal Academy of Music
THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO
Associate Director
Opera North
2019
OPERA SCENES
Director
Trinity Laban Conservatoire
L’ELISIR D’AMORE
Director
Iford Arts
LA BELLE HÉLÈNE
Director
Blackheath Halls Opera
CENDRILLON
Assistant Director
Glyndebourne
OPERA SCENES
Director
Trinity Laban Conservatoire
MANSFIELD PARK
Director
Opera South
2018
A CHRISTMAS CAROL
Assistant Director
Arts Theatre, West End
OPERA SCENES
Director
Trinity Laban Conservatoire
LA TRAVIATA
Revival Director
Glyndebourne Tour
GREAT MASKED BALL
Director
The Lost Estate, Bussey Building
LE DOCTEUR MIRACLE
Director
Royal Academy of Music
THE EXTERMINATING ANGEL
Assistant Director
Royal Danish Opera
OPERA SCENES
Director
Royal College of Music
HANSEL UND GRETEL (revival)
Director
Pop-Up Opera, UK Tour
2017
THE EXTERMINATING ANGEL
Assistant Director
Metropolitan Opera, New York
HANSEL UND GRETEL
Director
Pop-Up Opera, UK Tour
DON GIOVANNI
Director
British Youth Opera
LA TRAVIATA
Assistant Director
Glyndebourne Festival
THE EXTERMINATING ANGEL
Assistant Director
Royal Opera House, London
L’OSPEDALE (revival)
Director
Bury Court Opera
SNOW
Director
The Opera Story, Bussey Building
IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA (revival)
Director
Pop-Up Opera, UK Tour
OPERA SCENES
Director
Royal College of Music
I CAPULETI E I MONTECCHI (revival)
Director
Pop-Up Opera, UK Tour
2016
THE PEARL FISHERS
Staff Director
English National Opera
FIGAROS BRYLLUP
Director
Kilden Teater-og Konserthus
THE EXTERMINATING ANGEL
Assistant Director
Salzburg Festival
IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA
Director
Pop-Up Opera, UK Tour
I CAPULETI E I MONTECCHI
Director
Pop-Up Opera, UK Tour
OPERA SCENES
Director
Royal College of Music
2015
OPERA SCENES
Director
Trinity Laban Conservatoire
L’OSPEDALE
Director
Wilton’s Music Hall
JENUFA
Assistant Director
Opera North
IDOMENEO
Director
Blackheath Halls Opera
THE SELFISH GIANT
Director
Opera North Youth Company
L’ITALIANA IN ALGERI
Director
Pop-Up Opera, UK Tour
BETWEEN WORLDS
Staff Director
ENO / Barbican
BRUNDIBAR
Director
Blackheath Halls Opera
OPERA SCENES
Director
Royal College of Music
2014
A CHRISTMAS CAROL
Director
CMS / Spitalfields Market
L’OSPEDALE
Director
Aldeburgh Music
LA TRAVIATA
Assistant Director
Glyndebourne Tour
MINETTI
Assistant Director
Edinburgh International Festival
LA TRAVIATA
Assistant Director
Glyndebourne Festival
LA BOHÈME
Assistant Director
Opera North
THE LITTLE SWEEP
Director
Blackheath Halls Opera
THE MAGIC FLUTE
Revival Director
English Touring Opera
LA FANCIULLA DEL WEST
Assistant Director
Opera North
2013
HANSEL UND GRETEL
Assistant Director
Glyndebourne Tour
DEATH IN VENICE
Staff Director
ENO / DNO (Amsterdam)
OPERA SCENES
Director
Trinity Laban Conservatoire
LA RONDINE
Director
GO Opera / Opera di Peroni
NOYE’S FLUDDE
Director
Blackheath Halls Opera
2012
THE WOODS
Director
NT Studio
SCENES FROM AN EXECUTION
Staff Director
Lyttelton, National Theatre
THE MAKROPULOS CASE
Assistant Director
Opera North
OPERA DI PERONI
Creative Director
GO Opera / Opera di Peroni
BILLY BUDD
Staff Director
English National Opera
THE FLYING DUTCHMAN
Staff Director
English National Opera
A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM
Director
Blackheath Halls
MADAMA BUTTERFLY
Revival Director
Opera North
2011
CARMEN
Director
CMS / Sadler’s Wells
MADAMA BUTTERFLY
Assistant Director
Opera North
SEMELE
Director
Hampstead Garden Opera
AIDA
Director
Riverside Opera
CARMEN
Assistant Director
Opera North
2010
THE MIKADO
Director
Cambridge Arts Theatre
THE MAGIC FLUTE
Director
Hampstead Garden Opera
THE MERRY WIDOW
2nd Assistant Director
Opera North
THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO
2nd Assistant Director
Opera North
THE BARTERED BRIDE
Director
Surrey Opera
TOSCA
Staff Director
English National Opera
L’ELISIR D’AMORE
Director
Riverside Opera
2009
VENUS & ADONIS / DIDO & AENEAS
Director
Hampstead Garden Opera
HANDELFEST
Staff Director
English Touring Opera
FLAVIO
Assistant Director
English Touring Opera
UN BALLO IN MASCHERA
Assistant Director
Opera Holland Park
NORMA (Concert Staging)
Director
English Touring Opera
KATYA KABANOVA
Staff Director
English Touring Opera
THE MAGIC FLUTE
Assistant Director
English Touring Opera
MADAMA BUTTERFLY
Director
Surrey Opera
"};
Dropzone.autoDiscover = false;James began his career in 2009 with English Touring Opera. He has since worked on the directing staff at the Metropolitan Opera, Royal Opera House, Salzburg Festival, Royal Danish Opera, National Theatre, Barbican, Edinburgh International Festival, English National Opera, Glyndebourne, and Opera North.
His productions encompass premieres of new and rediscovered pieces alongside works from the core repertoire. Directing includes La rondine (Opera North), The Magic Flute (Wild Arts), Chérubin, Le docteur miracle (Royal Academy Opera), Figaros Bryllup (Kilden Teater-og Konserthus), Don Giovanni (British Youth Opera), L'elisir d'amore (Iford Arts), l'Ospedale (Aldeburgh / Wilton's Music Hall / Bury Court Opera), Mansfield Park (Opera South), and La belle Hélène (Blackheath Halls), which was nominated for an International Opera Award. James has also directed revivals for English National Opera, Opera North, Glyndebourne and English Touring Opera.
James' site-responsive stagings include the world-premiere of modern operatic triptych, Snow, set across three floors of the Bussey Building in Peckham, and the multimedia opera Beauty and the 7 Beasts, written by six different composer-librettist teams, which was premiered at Brixton Jamm in 2022. In 2012-2013 he was creative director of Opera di Peroni, an innovative performance campaign with GO Opera and electronic artist, Kwes, which presented opera in unconventional locations across the UK. From 2015-18 he directed four touring productions for Pop-Up Opera and his acclaimed 2016 staging of I Capuleti e i Montecchi for the company was filmed as part of the BBC / British Council's Shakespeare 400 celebrations.
James has considerable experience working with young artists. In addition to his work with BYO and RAM he has directed opera scenes for the Royal College of Music, the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and Trinity Laban. He is also a trustee of Opera South, a regional touring company that exists to provide performing opportunities for emerging artists.
As a translator, James has created new English versions of Donizetti's Rita and Chabrier's Une education manquée.