What's On

In Tchaikovsky's intense opera of obsession and the supernatural, Gherman is caught between the woman he loves and a destructive fixation. The Queen of Spades is based on a short story by Pushkin, and comes to the Royal Opera House in a new production that has already garnered fivestar reviews in Amsterdam. The production is set in 1890, the year of the opera’s premiere. In his study, Tchaikovsky imagines the opera into life as his own story, its characters giving voice to his unfulfilled desires. Aleksandrs Antonenko and Eva-Maria Westbroek head the cast and Royal Opera Chorus, conducted by Antonio Pappano, Music Director of The Royal Opera. This is an engrossing portrayal of a tortured creative artist and a gripping piece of gothic storytelling. Tickets: £18.50, Concessions: £16.50, Child (under 16): £10 Sung in Russian with English subtitles Approximate running time: 210 minutes including one interval

Inspired by a true story, Everybody’s Talking About Jamie is the new award-winning five-star hit musical for today. Jamie New is sixteen and lives on a council estate in Sheffield. Jamie doesn’t quite fit in. Jamie is terrified about the future. He is going to be a sensation. Supported by his brilliant loving mum and surrounded by his friends, Jamie overcomes prejudice, beats the bullies and steps out of the darkness, into the spotlight. Winner of 3 WhatsOnStage Awards including Best New Musical and nominated for 5 Olivier Awards, Everybody’s Talking About Jamie will be broadcast live from the Apollo Theatre in London’s Shaftesbury Avenue to cinemas nationwide. EVENING STANDARD “A true big-hearted crowd-pleaser” THE TIMES “This fizzing musical is a blast of fresh air. The songs have the wow factor. It’s the real deal. Everyone really should be talking, singing, shouting about Jamie now”. Tickets: £15.50, Conesssions £13, Child U16: £10

From the thrill of unexpected romance to a heartbreaking reconciliation that comes too late – Verdi’s La traviata is one of the most popular of all operas. Alfredo falls in love in with the courtesan Violetta in glamorous Paris society, but underneath the surface run darker undercurrents, leading to a tragic ending. The opera’s wealth of melodies includes the famous Brindisi and the exuberant ‘Sempre libera’ – both showing the lyricism of Italian opera at its most immediately appealing. Richard Eyre’s production for The Royal Opera brings out all the emotional colour, from the giddy discovery of love, through painful confrontation to the inevitable conclusion. Lavish period sets and costumes enhance the reality of a moving story based on true life. Tickets: £18.50, Concessions: £16.50, Child (under 16): £10 Sung in Italian with English subtitles Approximate running time: 215 minutes including two intervals

I’m Not Running is an explosive new play by David Hare, premiering at the National Theatre and broadcast live to cinemas. Pauline Gibson has spent her life as a doctor, the inspiring leader of a local health campaign. When she crosses paths with her old boyfriend, a stalwart loyalist in Labour Party politics, she’s faced with an agonising decision. What’s involved in sacrificing your private life and your piece of mind for something more than a single issue? Does she dare? Hare was recently described by The Washington Post as ‘the premiere political dramatist writing in English’. His other work includes Pravda and Skylight, broadcast by National Theatre Live in 2014. Tickets £13, Concessions £12

Set in Seville around the year 1830, the opera deals with the love and jealousy of Don José, who is lured away from his duty as a soldier and his beloved Micaela by the gypsy factory-girl Carmen, whom he allows to escape from custody. He is later induced to join the smugglers with whom Carmen is associated, but is driven wild by jealousy. This comes to a head when Carmen makes clear her preference for the bull-fighter Escamillo. The last act, outside the bull-ring in Seville, brings Escamillo to the arena, accompanied by Carmen, there stabbed to death by Don Jose, who has been awaiting her arrival. Tickets £22, Concessions £20 Season ticket: £140.00 (to include all 10 performances.) This is available from our Box Office in person, or on 01202 499199. This is currently unavailable online. Approx. runtime: 3 hours 41 minutes [1 interval]

Cervantes’s story of the bumbling knight Don Quixote has inspired countless artistic interpretations. Marius Petipa choreographed this sparkling ballet about the encounters of the man from La Mancha and his faithful squire Sancho Panza. At its heart are virtuoso roles for the lovers Basilio and Kitri. Carlos Acosta chose this joyful classic for his first production for The Royal Ballet. His vibrant staging brings together the whole Company in such roles as exuberant villagers, passionate gypsies and even fantasy flowers. The story follows Don Quixote’s picaresque journey to do deeds in honour of his imaginary noble lady, Dulcinea. Sunny, charming, funny and touching – Don Quixote is a ballet as full of uplifting emotion as it is of astonishing ballet technique. Approximate running time: 2 hours 45 minutes including one interval Tickets: £18.50, Concessions: £16.50, Child (under 16): £10 Choreography: Carlos Acosta after Marius Petipa Production: Carlos Acosta Original music: Ludwig Minkus

Simon Russell Beale plays William Shakespeare’s Richard II, broadcast live from the stage of the Almeida Theatre in London to cinemas. This visceral new production about the limits of power will be directed by Joe Hill-Gibbins, whose previous plays include Little Revolution at the Almeida and Absolute Hell at the National Theatre. Richard II, King of England, is irresponsible, foolish and vain. His weak leadership sends his kingdom into disarray and his court into uproar. Seeing no other option but to seize power, the ambitious Bolingbroke challenges the throne and the king’s divine right to rule. Simon Russell Beale returns to National Theatre Live screens following broadcasts of Timon of Athens and King Lear, and his recent role in the National Theatre’s critically acclaimed production of The Lehman Trilogy. Tickets £13, Concessions £12 Approximate runtime: 1 hour 55 minutes

Full of wit and invention, Donizetti’s comic opera is a delight. The famous aria “Ah, Mes Amis,” with its nine high Cs, is one of opera’s most show-stopping numbers. Bel canto stars Pretty Yende and Javier Camarena take on the challenging vocal fireworks in Laurent Pelly’s hilarious staging. Orphaned as a small child and raised by an entire army regiment, the spirited Marie has grown up as the regiment’s ‘daughter’, raising morale and spreading joy. Tonio, a local man, falls in love with her and even joins the army for her sake. But a chance encounter with a noblewoman sparks a sudden revelation, and a tale unfolds of secret identities, long-lost family, and murky pasts. Tickets £22, Concessions £20 Season ticket: £140.00 (to include all 10 performances.) This is available from our Box Office in person, or on 01202 499199. This is currently unavailable online. Approx. runtime: 2 hours 55 minutes [1 interval] Please note, this screening carries a 12A certificate TBC.

Featuring some of the most glorious music ever written—including, of course, the Ride of the Valkyries—Die Walküre is the second of the four operas that comprise Wagner’s Ring cycle, a story of monsters, gods, and humans on a superhuman scale. When twins Siegmund and Sieglinde find each other at last, Siegmund promises to release Sieglinde from her forced marriage by killing her husband, Hunding. The god Wotan instructs Valkyrie warrior Brünnhilde to defend Hunding. But, moved by the twins’ mutual devotion, Brünnhilde refuses to obey, forging an alliance with Sieglinde that has far-reaching consequences for them both. Soprano Christine Goerke sings Brünnhilde, tenor Stuart Skelton and soprano Eva-Maria Westbroek are the love-struck twins, and Ring cycle veteran Philippe Jordan conducts. Tickets £22, Concessions £20 Season ticket: £140.00 (to include all 10 performances.) This is available from our Box Office in person, or on 01202 499199. This is currently unavailable online. Approx. runtime: 5 hours 20 mins [2 intervals] Please note, this screening carries a 12A certificate TBC.

Leonora falls in love with Don Alvaro, but when her father forbids their marriage, a fatal accident triggers a drama of obsession, vengeance and tragedy. Jonas Kaufmann and Anna Netrebko star in Verdi’s epic La forza del destino (The Force of Destiny) an opera which demands the very best of singers for its powerful music and the fullest theatrical treatment for its story of bitter revenge pursued across miles and years. The production comes to The Royal Opera in a sensational staging from Amsterdam packed with colour and action. It is directed by Christof Loy and conducted by Antonio Pappano, Music Director of The Royal Opera. Tickets: £18.50, Concessions: £16.50, Child (under 16): £10 Sung in Italian with English subtitles Approximate running time: 255 minutes including two intervals

Come into the forest; dare to change your state of mind. Rosalind is banished, wrestling with her heart and her head. With her cousin by her side, she journeys to a world of exile where barriers are broken down and all can discover their deeper selves. Director Kimberley Sykes (Dido, Queen of Carthage) directs a riotous, exhilarating version of Shakespeare’s romantic comedy. Tickets: £13, Concessions £12

There are many versions of the story of Faust, who trades his soul with the Devil for youth and power, but Gounod’s opera remains one of the most constantly enthralling. Michael Fabiano stars as Faust, with Diana Damrau as his beloved Marguerite and Erwin Schrott as the diabolical Méphistophélès. Virtuoso leading roles, a large chorus, sensational sets, ballet and an ecstatic finale make this the epitome of theatrical spectacle – the lavish scale of French grand opera is wonderfully in evidence in this production by David McVicar, set in 1870s Paris. Above all, the music includes several of popular opera’s most recognizable numbers, performed by a cast of great international singers and the Royal Opera Chorus. Tickets: £18.50, Concessions: £16.50, Child (under 16): £10 Sung in French with English subtitles Approximate running time: 225 minutes including one interval

Met Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin leads Poulenc’s masterpiece. As the French Revolution begins, shy Blanche, sung by mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard, becomes a novice nun under an elderly prioress—Met legend Karita Mattila. Blanche’s aristocratic family flees the Terror, but she remains behind, struggling between her fear of the guillotine and her duty to the convent. When the nuns are expelled from the convent and threatened with death, Blanche must make an agonising decision. In the shattering final scene, the nuns walk towards the guillotine singing Salve Regina: Their voices are cut off, one by one, with each stroke of the blade, until all are silenced. Poulenc’s devastating portrayal of faith and martyrdom is live in HD for the first time. Tickets £22, Concessions £20 Season ticket: £140.00 (to include all 10 performances.) This is available from our Box Office in person, or on 01202 499199. This is currently unavailable online. Approx. runtime: 3 hours 29 mins [1 interval] Please note, this screening carries a 12A certificate TBC.

Broadcast live from The Old Vic in London, Academy Award-winner Sally Field (Steel Magnolias, Brothers & Sisters) and Bill Pullman (The Sinner, Independence Day) star in Arthur Miller’s blistering drama All My Sons. America, 1947. Despite hard choices and even harder knocks, Joe and Kate Keller are a success story. They have built a home, raised two sons and established a thriving business. But nothing lasts forever and their contented lives, already shadowed by the loss of their eldest boy to war, are about to shatter. With the return of a figure from the past, long buried truths are forced to the surface and the price of their American dream is laid bare. Jeremy Herrin (NT Live: This House, People, Places & Things) directs a cast including Jenna Coleman (Victoria), and Colin Morgan (Merlin). All My Sons is an Old Vic co-production with Headlong Pravda and Skylight, broadcast by National Theatre Live in 2014. Tickets £13, Concessions £12

The contemporary face of The Royal Ballet is shown in works from three of today’s leading choreographers. Christopher Wheeldon’s Within the Golden Hour is based around seven couples separating and intermingling, to music by Vivaldi and Bosso and lit with rich colours suggested by sunset. Crystal Pite’s Flight Pattern, revived for the first time, uses a large dance ensemble and Górecki’s familiar music from his Symphony of Sorrowful Songs for a poignant and passionate reflection on migration. Between them, a new work by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, created on The Royal Ballet has its premiere to bring the contemporary truly up-to-date. Tickets: £18.50, Concessions: £16.50, Child (under 16): £10 Approximate running time: 195 minutes including two intervals

In a reimagined 1590, England is a matriarchy. Baptista Minola is seeking to sell off her son Katherine to the highest bidder. Cue an explosive battle of the sexes in this electrically charged love story. Justin Audibert (Snow in Midsummer, The Jew of Malta ) turns Shakespeare’s fierce, energetic comedy of gender and materialism on its head to offer a fresh perspective on its portrayal of hierarchy and power. Tickets: £13, Concessions £12

Shakespeare’s enduring love story is known the world over. Since its 1965 premiere with The Royal Ballet, Kenneth MacMillan’s Romeo and Juliet has become a modern ballet classic. The choreography captures the emotions of the young couple as they fall in love, despite the barriers that finally bring about the story’s tragic end. Each revival gives opportunities for new dancers to interpret the doomed lovers. The whole Company brings the colour and action of Renaissance Verona, where a busy market all too quickly bursts into sword fighting, and a family feud leads to tragedy for both the Montagues and Capulets. Tickets: £18.50, Concessions: £16.50, Child (under 16): £10 Approximate running time: 195 minutes including two intervals

To whom should I complain? "When a young novice nun is compromised by a corrupt official, who offers to save her brother from execution in return for sex, she has no idea where to turn for help. When she threatens to expose him, he tells her that no one would believe her. Shakespeare wrote this play in the early 1600s, yet it remains astonishingly resonant today. Artistic Director, Gregory Doran, directs this new production. Tickets: £13, Concessions £12