Mid Wales Opera hold a Falstaff workshop day in Wrexham

Sep 23 2010 Flintshire Chronicle

MID Wales Opera will be holding a full day workshop to explore the character of Falstaff in the Catrin Finch Centre at Glyndwr University in Wrexham on Saturday, September 25 from 10am-5pm.

Falstaff is one of the most distinctive creations of the dramatic stage and Shakespeare’s “Sir John” from the Henry IV plays and the later comedy The Merry Wives of Windsor has been a great hit with audiences since Elizabethan times.

Verdi had wanted to write a comedy for much of his life and in Falstaff he found the perfect subject.

Falstaff may be an old fool full of self deception but in the end he is a life-affirming character and this is what gives the opera its particular dramatic genius.

To help explore such issues Mid Wales Opera has arranged in collaboration with Glyndwr University a study day under the title Falstaff Revealed taking place at the Catrin Finch Centre on Saturday.

This will be a day of performance, analysis, discussion and audience participation with sessions led by Professor Mike Scott, vice-chancellor of Glyndwr University; Nicholas Cleobury, MWO’s artistic director; Glyndwr University Drama Department and Glyndwr University Community Choir.

Amanda Holden and Martin Lloyd-Evans, translator and director for MWO’s new production of Verdi’s Falstaff, will also provide their thoughts on approaching a version of Falstaff for the operatic stage.

MWO’s Falstaff visits Theatr Stiwt in Rhos on Wednesday, October 27, so participants can see for themselves how their ideas come to fruition.

Tickets for the Falstaff day are £8, £5 concessions. Ring 01978 293293 or visit the website: www.glyndwr.ac.uk/events.