Studio 10, 6pm
Running time: 60 mins
A hive mind fleeing a shattered planet. An underwater city as the young revolt against the system. A drought-stricken village deciding who should lead. These are some of the stories made by audiences for We Sing/I Sang, an interactive immersive opera-ritual.
Together, we’ll build a community and its challenges, and our singer-narrator will bring it to life, moulded constantly by audience choices. What will our people’s song be?
“Opera back in London! And not just opera, but experimental, cutting edge work.” – LondonTheatre1
“as if opera is being reconstructed from its ruins… an elemental and intuitive experience… a truly affecting performance” – OperaWire
Performer: CN Lester
Writer: Leo Doulton
CN Lester is a multi-genre musician, author of the critically-acclaimed Trans Like Me, and artistic director of Transpose at Barbican.
CN is both an alternative piano-based singer-songwriter and classical singer, improviser, and composer. They hold an interdisciplinary performance/research PhD on composer Barbara Strozzi. They work internationally as a trans/queer/feminist educator, writer, speaker, and activist.
Words and music at BBC Radio 3 & 4, Newsnight, Sydney Opera House, Southbank Centre, The Arts Club, arts and book festivals/radio/print worldwide. They made their fiction debut with the 2023 collection Furies, alongside Margaret Atwood, Ali Smith, and Emma Donoghue.
CN is currently working on their next album, next non-fiction and fiction books, upcoming Strozzi opera, and forthcoming academic publications.
Leo Doulton is a writer and director working in interactive theatre and opera. Interactive highlights writing-directing on The Key of Dreams (Treowen, 2024), Paradise Craved (Theatre Deli, 2023), Come Bargain With Uncanny Things (Virtually Opera, 2022), and being appointed Associate Creative Director of Lemon Difficult in 2023.
The interactive novel Rites of Angels will be published by voidspace press shortly. Operatic highlights include work for the Royal Opera House, Scottish Opera and Longborough Festival Opera.
Leo has been supported by a Theatre Deli Classic Residency, an Opera Awards Foundation Bursary, and a Britten Pears Foundation Creative Retreat.