Double delight for North Devon opera fans as top performers come to Barnstaple

Opera lovers are in for a double helping of the very best in stage entertainment in North Devon this month.

English Touring Opera (ETO) is heading to the Queen’s Theatre in Barnstaple for the first time as part of its autumn tour, staging two brand-new productions of Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia on Friday, November 21 and Donizetti’s The Elixir of Love on Saturday, November 22.

The nation’s leading touring opera company, ETO brings outstanding live productions and impactful education and community projects to more towns and cities than any other UK opera company in its mission to make exceptional artistic experiences available to all.

It will present a new production of Donizetti’s The Elixir of Love – packed with warmth, romance and effervescent music.

Above: The Elixir of Love is packed with romance and effervescent music. Credit: Richard Hubert-Smith

The beautiful and popular Adina is completely out of Nemorino’s league – shy and sincere but desperate to catch her eye, the arrival of the smooth-talking Doctor Dulcamara and his apparently miraculous concoctions provides the perfect opportunity to change his fate.

But Nemorino soon discovers that matters of the heart are rarely so straightforward. Soprano Natasha Page – First Prize winner in the 2023 Maureen Lehane Vocal Awards – makes her ETO debut singing the role of Adina alongside tenor Tamsanqa Tylor Lamani as Nemorino, who recently received acclaim for his performance in ETO’s 2025 production What Dreams May Come.

Timothy Nelson makes a welcome return to ETO in the role of Belcore, and Emyr Wyn Jones and Rosie Lomas make their ETO debuts in the roles of Dulcamara and Gianetta respectively.

Martin Constantine – artistic director of the pioneering Streetwise Opera – directs, and Royal Philharmonic Society ‘Conductor Award’ nominee Alice Farnham conducts.

Meanwhile, ETO artistic director Robin Norton-Hale directs a new production of Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia, a devastating and chilling exploration of the abuse of power.

A group of bored soldiers decide to test the loyalty of the wives they have left behind at home, unleashing a cruel and reckless series of events that have shattering consequences.

Written in the aftermath of the Second World War, Britten’s opera reflects a world struggling to remake itself after enormous suffering and destruction.

Above:Some of The Rape of Lucretia cast, with Jenny Stafford (female chorus), Jane Monari (Bianca), Clare Presland (Lucretia) and Rosie Lomas (Lucia). Credit: Richard Hubert-Smith

Mezzo-soprano Clare Presland – recently seen in the Olivier Award-winning production of Festen at the Royal Ballet and Opera – sings the role of Lucretia for the first time, with Jenny Stafford and William Morgan as the female and male chorus.

Kieran Rayner performs the role of Tarquinius alongside Emyr Wyn Jones as Lucretia’s husband Collatinus, Edmund Danon as Junius, Jane Monari singing Bianca and Rosie Lomas in the role of Lucia.

Above: Kieran Rayner as Tarquinius and Edmund Danon as Junius in The Rape of Lucretia. Credit: Richard Hubert-Smith

ETO music director Gerry Cornelius conducts, reuniting with Norton-Hale after their critically acclaimed production of Judith Weir’s Blond Eckbert, which opened the Aldeburgh Festival in 2024.

Both operas will be performed in English with English subtitles.

The Rape of Lucretia tours to Queen’s Theatre in Barnstaple on Friday, November 21 at 7.30pm, with a free pre-show talk from ETO members at 6pm. The Elixir of Love follows on Saturday, November 22, also at 7.30pm with pre-show talk.

For more information and tickets, please visit https://queenstheatre-barnstaple.com/whats-on