Mid Wales Opera's new production of Walton's The Bear targets the smallest venuesOpera now has the potential to reach far more people
than ever before; apart from streaming and live cinema events,
performances take place in a huge variety of informal and unusual
venues including railway station halls, shopping centres, parks, even
on the streets.

Mid Wales Opera’s autumn tour aims to target rural
village halls and community centres throughout Wales with performances
designed to capture audiences who have less opportunity and need a
little more encouragement to try out the artform. ‘Small-Stages’
performances, directed and designed by Artistic Director Richard
Studer, include refreshments and the opportunity for informal
discussion and chat with the performers.
The opera featured in this pilot tour is the one-act
comedy The Bear (A Joke in One Act) by William Walton which
celebrates its 50th Birthday in 2017. MWO’s Music Director
Jonathan Lyness has devised a new English performing edition for three
singers and five musicians. Composed in 1967 and based on Anton
Chekhov’s play of the same name, The Bear is the story of the widow
Mme Popova, whose constant mourning is interrupted by the arrival of
the rough-hewn debt collector Smirnov (the “bear” of the title).
Passions run high and their sparring culminates in a duel – and an
unexpected romance.
The second part of the evening is Tatyana’s Party
Pieces, extracts from Russian operas in a light hearted take on
the birthday party scene from Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin - a
taster of the company’s main stage tour of the opera in the
spring.
Mid Wales Opera’s new production of
Walton’s The Bear opens at Llandinam Village Hall on
2 November and continues in village halls, community centres,
assembly rooms and tiny theatres throughout Wales until early
December.