Themba performs the role of an army recruiter in mini opera Cause and Effect —part of Birmingham Opera Company’s RE-WIRE.

Six composers have weaved six tales of six Brummie 'lives' in short, mini-operas - commissioned through Brum Commissions.

CAUSE AND EFFECT

War. Music. Survival.
Meet The Pedlars, a First World War troupe inviting you to join the ranks. Reminiscent of the war time spirit but all is not as cheerful as it might seem. 

Words and Music: Franki Dodwell
Director: Lucy Bird
Soloist: Themba Mvula

Themba Mvula revives the role of Anthony this heart-warming production that “hits all the right notes” (The Guardian)

Get ready for a toe-tapping, heart-warming adventure in Blaze of Glory! - an uplifting tale set in a 1950s Welsh Valleys community. After a devastating mining disaster a small group of Welsh miners decide to reform their Male Voice Choir to lift spirits and raise the roof! Led by their heroic Chorus Master and supported by the strong-willed women who stand by them, the men embark on a musical escapade which finds them kidnapping a yodeller, taking part in the historic trans-Atlantic link-up with Paul Robeson and blazing a trail to the Eisteddfodau and beyond.

Blaze of Glory! Is a jubilant celebration of the Land of Song and a tribute to how community spirit can triumph over adversity. Traditional Welsh harmonies blend with the a cappella sounds of the 1950s, operetta, gospel and big band as our intrepid band of gleemen Lindy Hop their way to glory. Join our men in blazers, for a feel-good performance which will make your heart sing.

“It’s been a long time since the last revolutions and the faggots and their friends are still not free.” Published in 1977, this passage from Larry Mitchell and Ned Asta‘s The Faggots and Their Friends Between Revolutions sets the scene for a radically reimagined history of the world told through a queer lens where fantasy meets liberation. Having become unavailable and reissued on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the Stonewall riots because of its enduring relevance, this cult book of fables and myths serves as the starting point for a new music theater adaptation from the creative minds of composer Philip Venables and director Ted Huffman.

Together they conjure up a world that takes the original text on a kaleidoscopic journey that ignores boundaries just like the characters on stage do, drawing on theater, dance, and song from the Baroque to Broadway and beyond. The performers serve as actors, storytellers, and musicians all rolled into one, continually swapping roles while doing away with gender and genre norms and replacing them with unapologetic individuality and a lust for life. Their deeply personal stories prove both comforting and healing when shared through community in a colorful, madcap, and profound patchwork. The resulting cabaret-like spectacle is both vulnerable and daring, a fantastic parable hiding a political manifesto for survival that gives voice to the marginalized and oppressed everywhere.

Themba is a member of this multi-instrumental and multi-disciplinary ensemble cast.

'irresistibly, unforgettably compelling' - The Guardian ★★★★

For more info and to book tickets click here.

To celebrate our fifth anniversary, we’re colliding Baroque opera with the electrifying world of the circus – think aerial artists and acrobats! Campra’s dramatic music is a feast of styles and forms; folk dances featuring toe-tapping percussion riffs contrast with lyrical arias and joyful chorus numbers, with lyrics in both French and Italian (oh, and some of our English, too).

Act I opens with a stage manager nagging their colleagues for being so behind with setting up. The Goddess Minerva arrives; shocked at the state of preparations, she calls upon the Gods of Music, Dance, Painting and Architecture to help create something spectacular. Later we meet two pairs of lovers at comedic cross purposes. The plot culminates with a ‘play within a play’ to celebrate the Venice Carnival. When this production of the Orpheus myth is finally mounted, it proves the perfect opportunity for one of the couples to elope, happy at last.

Starring mezzo-soprano Katie Bray and soprano Julieth Lozano and lead by director James Hurley and associate director Rebecca Solomon (circus, movement), we promise you an in-the-round show that is fast-paced, dramatic and just a little bit participatory… The spectacle will unfold under an atmospheric circus tent in the grounds of The Vache (or Venice 2.0).

Grounds will open at 3pm for picnicking and exploring before the opera, featuring our signature installations and musical pop-ups. Act I will start at 5.30pm, with an hour-long dining interval at c.6.30pm. Act II will start at c.7.30pm. The show will end at c.8.30pm.

This show will also be presented as an abridged relaxed performance on the morning of Sunday 7 September – click here to find out more.

Themba will be performing the role of Léandre.

For more information and to book tickets click here.

Four new stories of our time

Four new creative partnerships

Four brand new, 20 minute operas

A Buxton International Festival Production

Shorts will challenge everything that you thought you knew about opera. This is the future.

Award-winning composers and writers from different genres and cultures come together to use the power of opera to tell stories and take you to the extremes of human emotion. This world premiere, commissioned for the Buxton International Festival, has rewritten the rules of contemporary opera.

The four stories explore the uncertainty, fragility and precariousness of the world and tell stories about the ways that we seek a sense of belonging, of healing, of being seen and heard. From the 1920s scandal that rocked the queer community, to ancient African healing rituals. Twenty years of domestic drama and the impending end of the world. These operas are written to make your pulse race and to spark conversations amongst a new generation of cultural pioneers. If you see nothing else this year, make sure you see this.

Themba will be performing in Tears Are Not Meant To Stay Inside by Thanda Gumede and Zodwa Nyoni, and Life Gets Stretched by Martin Green.

There will be 5 performances: July 13, 15, 18, 21 and 25, all at 7.15pm.

For more info and to book tickets click here.

Step into a mini adventure

A delight for all ages, this shorter matinee performance packs all the drama of one of the world’s most popular operas into less than two hours. It’s perfect for families, schools (KS2–4), or anyone wanting a shorter version of the opera.

The dashing prince Tamino is on a quest to find love and happiness, battling trials and tribulations to rescue the imprisoned Pamina. Fantasy, romance and daring, plus Mozart’s musical fireworks, make for an ecstatic ride through a magical world.

Themba will be performing the role of Papageno.

For more info and to book tickets click here.

Step into a 1940s Broadway hit, “a song and dance show with great heart” (The New York Daily Mirror).

Sam and Susan Cooper are trying to recall a time when their marriage was happy. They reckon it was 1790… Follow the ups and downs of their relationship, as we drop into scenes of their family life spanning 150 years of American history. Sparkling vaudeville acts provide a touch of satirical commentary along the way.

With Love Life, Kurt Weill and lyricist Alan Jay Lerner (My Fair Lady) created a trailblazing piece of theatre that inspired musicals from Cabaret and Chicago to Company. This new production puts the orchestra on stage and part of the action, poised to dazzle with inventive orchestrations and hummable tunes.

Supported by, and recorded for release in collaboration with, the Kurt Weill Foundation.

Themba will be performing the roles of Magician, Con Man and Interlocutor.

There will be three performances at the Leeds Grand Theatre: 16 Jan (19:00), 17 Jan (18:00), and 18 Jan (14:30).

For more info and to book tickets click here.

A bus travelling through a gentrifying and displaced South London, is carrying a diverse group of young people when it is hijacked by Alt and Far-Right radicals. Ideologies, identities and loyalties collide as the passengers are confronted with the growing violence on their doorstep. In their schools. On their airways. What happens next is influenced by the audience, who actively participates in shaping the fate of our passengers. Link In My Bio, with its blend of cross-cultural instrumentation, spoken word and grime, boldly explores prejudice, neo-fascism and social media’s impact – how it can insidiously change the way we think and what we believe is acceptable. By incorporating a unique blend of gaming techniques and digital visual language, this ground-breaking opera redefines the traditional boundaries of the art form. Luxembourg’s contemporary music ensemble United Instruments of Lucilin accompanies the cast.

For more info and to book tickets click here.

Five female choreographers from around the world take inspiration from the pioneering women of Birmingham. Each tells a story tackling universal themes through sweeping dramatic movement and intense, intimate moments of darkness and light.

Join Birmingham Royal Ballet on this journey to the moon and back, told with love, compassion and creativity, and grounded in real life experience.

With an all-female, international creative team, including choreographers Iratxe Ansa (Spain), Wubkje Kuindersma (Netherlands), Seeta Patel (UK), Arielle Smith (UK), Thais Suárez (Cuba) and music composed by Kate Whitley (UK).

Luna is the final part of Carlos Acosta’s Birmingham trilogy (City of a Thousand Trades, Black Sabbath).

Themba will be the baritone soloist for this production and will appear on stage in several scenes.

There will be three performances at Sadlers Wells

Tues 22 Oct 7.30pm

Weds 23 Oct 2.00pm & 7.30pm:

For more info and to book tickets click here.

Five female choreographers from around the world take inspiration from the pioneering women of Birmingham. Each tells a story tackling universal themes through sweeping dramatic movement and intense, intimate moments of darkness and light.

Join Birmingham Royal Ballet on this journey to the moon and back, told with love, compassion and creativity, and grounded in real life experience.

With an all-female, international creative team, including choreographers Iratxe Ansa (Spain), Wubkje Kuindersma (Netherlands), Seeta Patel (UK), Arielle Smith (UK), Thais Suárez (Cuba) and music composed by Kate Whitley (UK).

Luna is the final part of Carlos Acosta’s Birmingham trilogy (City of a Thousand Trades, Black Sabbath).

Themba will be the baritone soloist for this production and will appear on stage in several scenes.

There will be four performances at the Birmingham Hippodrome:

Thurs 3 Oct 7.30pm

Fri 4 Oct 7.30pm

Sat 5 Oct 2.00pm & 7.30pm

For more info and to book tickets click here.

Welcome to this fantastic queer version of world history in which friendships and pleasure are central. The queer community is celebrated here with song and dance, and new myths and fables are born.

The Faggots and Their Friends Between Revolutions is a musical theatre piece based on the cult 1977 novel of the same name by Larry Mitchell and Ned Asta. It offers a vision of world history through a queer lens. With a cast of actors, singers, dancers and musicians, this musical version by composer Philip Venables and director Ted Huffman reworks the original text into a kaleidoscopic journey that blends music and storytelling: look forward to re-enacted battles, as well as cheerleading and raves. Venables’ varied music ventures into Elizabethan lute songs, bossa nova, techno, with occasional moments that would not seem out of place in a Disney musical.

The result is an anarchic, satirical celebration of queer experience that is both vulnerable and daring. Sharing deeply personal stories proves both comforting and healing, as the marginalised are here not side-lined but take centre stage. The world they create constitutes a sharp critique of capitalism, assimilation and patriarchy that continues to be relevant today, when radical change remains needed. 

Friends of Philip Venables pointed the novel out to him and Huffman. Venables: ‘The book was all about sex positivity, gender freedom and a self-determined life. For these friends of mine, the book was a kind of bible. I couldn’t get it out of my head.’

'irresistibly, unforgettably compelling' - The Guardian ★★★★

For more info and to book tickets click here.

Step into a world where fables and myths celebrate queer community, friendship and pleasure: a manifesto for survival for the marginalised everywhere.

Based on the 1977 cult book by Larry Mitchell and Ned Asta, The F**gots and Their Friends Between Revolutions is a music theatre piece that reimagines the history of the world through a queer lens.

In this adaptation by composer Philip Venables and director Ted Huffman, the original text is taken on a kaleidoscopic journey by a cast of actors, singers and musicians.

Together they conjure up a world on the brink of revolution – expect battle re-enactments crossed with cheerleading, all night raves mixed with lute songs and court dances.

There will be 4 performances in this run at the Southbank Centre in London.

For more info and to book tickets click here.

Step into a world where fables and myths celebrate queer community, friendship and pleasure: a manifesto for survival for the marginalised everywhere.

Based on the 1977 cult book by Larry Mitchell and Ned Asta, The F**gots and Their Friends Between Revolutions is a music theatre piece that reimagines the history of the world through a queer lens.

In this adaptation by composer Philip Venables and director Ted Huffman, the original text is taken on a kaleidoscopic journey by a cast of actors, singers and musicians.

Together they conjure up a world on the brink of revolution – expect battle re-enactments crossed with cheerleading, all night raves mixed with lute songs and court dances.

For more info and to book tickets click here.

Step into a world where fables and myths celebrate queer community, friendship and pleasure: a manifesto for survival for the marginalised everywhere.

Based on the 1977 cult book by Larry Mitchell and Ned Asta, The F**gots and Their Friends Between Revolutions is a music theatre piece that reimagines the history of the world through a queer lens.

In this adaptation by composer Philip Venables and director Ted Huffman, the original text is taken on a kaleidoscopic journey by a cast of actors, singers and musicians.

Together they conjure up a world on the brink of revolution – expect battle re-enactments crossed with cheerleading, all night raves mixed with lute songs and court dances.

For more info and to book tickets click here.