Albert Herring

Benjamin Britten (1947)

New production

The famous Russian pianist and conductor Sviatoslav Richter once famously dubbed it as the ‘greatest comic opera of the century’ – and indeed Benjamin Britten’s charming chamber opera, Albert Herring is surely one of the most endearing, light-hearted and outright funny operas you will ever see.

May Day is looming, and the small town of Loxford is in turmoil. All the potential May Queens are judged to be morally unsuitable. Desperate, the locals decide a May King will have to do instead. They choose the blameless Albert Herring, from the greengrocers. He isn’t keen, but stuck firmly under his mother’s thumb, he’ll do what he is told. However, after one rum-laced lemonade at the May Day ceremony, Albert decides to take his prize money to town to explore for him himself the pleasures life has denied him so far. But how will his sudden disappearance go down in the village?

Based on a short story by the French literary wizard Maupassant, Eric Crozier’s masterly libretto about small town life is so well-observed and strongly characterised that it could stand alone as a supremely entertaining play in its own right. In Britten’s witty, imaginative and touching score it finds an ideal match.

Giles Havergal, whose wise and beautifully-judged staging of The Merry Widow was a highlight of the 2010–11 season, returns to direct a new production featuring Dame Josephine Barstow in the role of the formidable Lady Billows.

Lasts approximately 2 hours 45 minutes.
Sung in English.

Financially supported by the Opera North Future Fund

Albert Herring will be performed in the round. View the new seating plan here.

Performance: The Girl with the Iron Claws

Growing up isn’t easy, especially when you’re in love with a bear. 

This is a story about a girl who dares to follow her longing. The youngest daughter of a king, she feels like a misfit. Then one night a compelling dream leads her deep into the forest, where a chance encounter sets her on a fateful path she could never have anticipated. 
  
Following a critically acclaimed, sell-out success at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2011, The Wrong Crowd brings you this captivating dark fairy-tale, which shares its roots with Beauty and the Beast. Stunning puppetry, enchanting music and deft humour combine to dazzling effect in this coming-of-age tale to enthral audiences young and old. 
  
Fall in with The Wrong Crowd for their inventive, playful, unique brand of storytelling theatre.

Please note: The 2pm performance is a Relaxed Performance of The Girl with the Iron Claws for young people with learning disabilities and additional needs. For more information click here.

Recommended for: age 8+. Suitable for adults and children!

Running Time: approximately 1 hour (no interval)

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Film: Hangover Square

A film night to remember- 1940s style

Dir. John Brahm, USA 1945, 77 mins.

The Howard Assembly Room steps back in time to re-live its past as a 1940s cinema. In June 1945, England had been at peace for just a few weeks and cinema was the primary entertainment and escape from the realities of a war torn world.

This special screening repeats the original June 1945 programme sixty eight years on. British noir classic Hangover Square is shown with its original introduction – a short film from the Ministry of Information. Based on Patrick Hamilton’s novel, Hangover Square is the story of George Harvey Bone, a composer subject to homicidal blackouts.

Save 20% at the Howard Assembly Room: Buy tickets for two or more shows displaying the 'Save' symbol (only available when you book in person or by phone, not available on-line).

Music: Seth Lakeman

‘Lakeman's tales of Devon working lives echo atmospherically, his fiddle, guitar and banjo bolstered by clanked chains and a thumped Sally Army drum’ The Guardian

Seth Lakeman brings his trademark soaring voice and virtuosic fiddle playing to Leeds, performing music from his studio based albums, the 2005 Mercury-nominated Kitty Jay and the acclaimed 2012 Tales from the Barrel House.

This current album brings a new contemplative, pared back quality to his songwriting, infusing both all-out foot-stompers and tender, thoughtful ballads with a combination of starkness and warmth.  The heartfelt subject matter of the folk tale meets a whirl of fiddle, acoustic guitar and driving rhythm, with Seth's unmistakable vocals riding the wave. 

Seth Lakeman's website: http://www.sethlakeman.co.uk/

With support

Save 20% at the Howard Assembly Room: Buy tickets for two or more shows displaying the 'Save' symbol (only available when you book in person or by phone, not available on-line).

Music: Etran Finatawa

‘Wailing, twisting songs as gritty as the desert wind’ **** Songlines

From the grasslands of the Sahel come the sounds of two legendary nomadic peoples, the Tuareg and the Wodaabe. The music of Etran Finatawa successfully infuses the Wadaabe’s clear, piercing vocals with the eddying surge of Tuareg guitars and driving calabash rhythms.

Much of their music draws attention to the threatened future of the nomadic lifestyle, in sound that is both energetic and sublime. Their four albums have made them one of the most celebrated band in Niger.

There will be a free pre-show talk by ex-Tinariwen manager and Guardian journalist Andy Morgan on the crisis in West Africa. Tickets must be booked in advance, book here. 

Save 20% at the Howard Assembly Room: Buy tickets for two or more shows displaying the 'Save' symbol (only available when you book in person or by phone, not available on-line).

Music: Nils Frahm

‘A remarkable tumble through the sounds and shapes of his imagination’ Drowned In Sound

Berlin-based pianist and composer Nils Frahm creates his own personal microcosm on stage, a structure of delicate piano sound that has at times a simple, Satie- like joyfulness while at others finds deep resonances from the depths of the piano.

Always restrained yet compelling, his rise has been inexorable in the eighteen months since the release of his hyper-intimate third album ‘Felt’ in 2011.  This one-off UK performance is his first since a brilliant London show at the Hackney Empire in 2012, which marked the 5th Anniversary of his record label Erased Tapes.

With support from: Nancy Eilzabeth

Save 20% at the Howard Assembly Room: Buy tickets for two or more shows displaying the 'Save' symbol (only available when you book in person or by phone, not available on-line).