The female forces behind Reimagining the Classics
Throughout its history, opera has largely been shaped by the male perspective, both on the stage and behind the scenes. As a result, many classic operas reflect ideas that overlook and undermine the female experience. That’s why we’re especially excited to collaborate with three exceptionally talented female directors who are reimagining these classic works, which were originally created by men. Their interpretations bring new depth and nuance to stories that have long been defined by a more limited, and often misogynistic, narrative.
Reimagining the Classics takes two iconic operas, Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro and Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci, and reframes their narratives through a modern perspective. Streetwise performers have been working alongside three fantastic directors to reimagine these two iconic operas. We are partnering with Opera North and English Touring Opera to bring these pieces to life in London, Manchester and Nottingham in March and April 2026.
Katherine Wilde
Katherine is an experienced producer and director in the field of opera and music theatre. Katherine has worked with multiple companies including Manchester International Festival, Sound Voice, English National Opera, Garsington Opera, and more. Katherine has a background in music, having obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in Music from the University of Oxford. Throughout their career, Katherine has been involved in a diverse range of productions and projects, showcasing their expertise and passion for the arts.
What is your artistic process like when working on a project like this?
We want to work with the group to develop the ideas, words and music for this project, so the process always begins with them and their ideas – we’re creating this together, and I see my role as director to listen, to reflect back what I am hearing, and to help guide creative decisions. The starting point for that can really vary – it can be a discussion, where we explore the themes in the piece, the characters, and how they relate to modern day life and society, or it can be something more practical like an improvisation game. Once we have some initial ideas, I work with the music director to look at what we can bring as a structure, or a section of music from the original Mozart, to start to shape the ideas into tangible words and music that the group can learn. Then we will start to think about what this will look at feel like on stage – but we haven’t got to that bit of the process just yet!
How is it different working with Streetwise Opera participants and what challenges have you had to overcome?
In many ways it’s the same as any group of people that you’re working with on a creative process – it’s important to understand how everyone works differently, to make sure we’re working in a way that everyone can access, and to develop trusting relationships in the room. The process of making and sharing work can be very vulnerable, and it can be a challenge to make everyone feel heard in an equal way. This can be particularly challenging when working with a group like Streetwise Operas that has people in it who have been working together for a long time, in part because they already know each other much better than I do, and also because the work we are doing together is so important to them. I try to strike a balance between listening and responding, whilst at the same time holding clear boundaries so that everyone can move forwards together.
How do you get the participants to engage with the piece and help come up with new ideas?
It’s great working with the group as they’re already really engaged with opera and with the idea of making work together, which is testament to the amazing work the regular team are doing. We try to vary the activities that we do together across the session, but my observation is that the thing that the group really love to do is to sing, take on different characters and perform – this seems to be the best way for them to connect with the original piece.
At this stage, where is this piece going and how are you reimagining the work into your own piece?
We have a pretty clear idea of the main theme we want to explore, and have a sense of the overall structure of the piece. We’re currently working with the group to learn the new material that has already been composed, and to write new material to focus on the relationships between Susanna/Figaro and the Count/Countess. We’ll then need to put together all of these jigsaw puzzle pieces together into an order for the final performance, and once we’ve learnt the music we will start to work together to stage it. Overall we’re looking at the meaning of love, and how love manifests in different ways in the different relationships we see in the piece. Within this, I think the group are really interested with how this maps onto different power dynamics, and how things have changed in society over time. I think we’re yet to decide whether the characters in our new piece will make the same decisions that they do in the original – but that’s still up for discussion!
What do you hope the audience will take away from the performance?
I would love it if the audience left with two things:
- A sense of having been wrapped up warm and cosy in beautiful singing and music making – Mozart’s original music, and our new compositions, have moments of musical bliss so I’m excited that we will be sharing these.
- Cause to spend a little moment of reflection on the relationships with their loved ones – it might be a new perspective or understanding, or just a moment to be grateful.
Rosie Kat
Rosie is a theatre and opera director and her work primarily explores power imbalance in interpersonal and political drama, expressed through bold and highly physical performance. She trained at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, studying Theatre and Opera Directing, after studying Drama and English Literature at the University of Birmingham.
Rosie specialises in directing Learning and Engagement productions, like The Secret of the Black Spider (Opera North), The Monster in the Maze (Sheffield Crucible Theatre), Pied Piper of Hamelin (Northern Opera Group), Carmen (Opera on Location), and The Journey (Citizens of the World Refugee Choir).
What is your artistic process like when working on a project like this?
The focus of this project is collaborating with the Streetwise Artists to reimagine the Marriage of Figaro. The process so far has been one of curiosity, openness, and collaboration. We started by being curious about the original piece, the social attitudes at the time it was written, and the relationship between the characters. We then explored with an open mind how these themes and characters could be transposed to a different setting that speaks to us in the 21st Century. Now we’re collaborating on writing new text for our opera and in the New Year we will work together to start to stage it with renewed curiosity, openness and collaborative spirit.
How is it different working with Streetwise Opera participants and what challenges have you had to overcome?
Walking into Nottingham Playhouse on a Tuesday afternoon to see the Streetwise Artists is by far the friendliest room I walk into every week. There are lots of laughs and jokes that bring all the different personalities together. Tim has worked with this group for a long time, and he knows everyone really well, so it was much easier for me to get to know everyone. I’ve been welcomed with open arms and really feel like part of the group now. It’s a room brimming with loads of great ideas for our show, and I just wish we could use them all!
How do you get the participants to engage with the piece and help come up with new ideas?
We spent a lot of time thinking about the characters in the original opera and the power dynamics between them. We enjoyed some activities where we put the characters in different modern day scenarios to explore how they interact with each other and the world. We learned some songs from the original opera, and experimented with different ways of staging them. We could have written about 50 operas with all the ideas we came up with, but in the end we decided we were most interested with how the Count abuses his power, and that we wanted to write a piece about that.
At this stage, where is this piece going and how are you reimagining the work into your own piece?
Our theme is the Count’s abuse of power, and in our production he is the owner of a warehouse business. There are harsh working conditions for the staff, including Susanna and Figaro, who want some time off so they can get married.
The piece is in three acts:
Act 1 was developed with The Friary and has music written by Tim Lole and sets up the harshness of life for the workers in the warehouse. Figaro asks the Count for better conditions, but gets turned down.
Act 2 is currently being developed and we are writing new text to some songs from the original opera. The Count tells Figaro he will have a short meeting with him to discuss want the workers want, so Susanna and Figaro discuss what they should ask for while the Count broods on the impudence of his workers. Susanna comes up with a plan to bring all the workers together.
Act 3 was developed with the Tuesday afternoon Streetwise Nottingham artists with music by Alex Ho. The workers go on strike, and the Count realises he can’t run the business without them, so gives in to their demands.
We’re almost finished writing Act 2, so after Christmas we will start staging the opera.
What do you hope the audience will take away from the performance?
The Marriage of Figaro is a great opera to respond to because it is about ordinary people and their struggles within a system which is rigged to benefit the Count. I think we’ve done a great job bringing these themes up to date and I hope the audience feel uplifted by seeing the warehouse staff work together to show the Count that he needs them and should treat them properly!
Anna Morrissey
Anna has worked across theatre, opera and dance and her work has been shown on the West End, the National, the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Royal Opera House, the Young Vic and the Old Vic as well as many major regional venues and internationally. As a director and maker of her own work Anna has been commissioned to make dance theatre pieces by the RSC and spent a year as Artist in Residence with Historic Royal Palaces. She has worked on many large scale events and public artworks including the London 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony,We Are Here (Jeremy Deller, NT) and Beyond The Deepening Shadows (Tower of London).
What is your artistic process like when working on a project like this?
I spend as much time engaging with the original score and researching the socio-historical context it was written in. I’m also thinking about the group I will be co-creating with …what is the best way to work with them? How can I make a process that is fun, inclusive and engaging for everyone.
How is it different working with Streetwise Opera participants and what challenges have you had to overcome?
Streetwise has some fantastic values which underpin their work. We start every session by reasserting those values so it it’s important to me that the session and the way we work together is aligned with those values- have fun, respect each other, leave your troubles at the door. We are working as a group of 20-25 people and that is a lot of people in a co-creation project. The challenge is navigating a process in which everyone feels heard and their ideas are valued whilst also creating something coherent for our audience.
How do you get the participants to engage with the piece and help come up with new ideas?
We always try to have fun in the work and to be playful with our voices and our bodies. Joy is the best pathway to engagement. I come from a movement background so I make the work physical and on its feet as much as possible. It’s important that the group are grounded in the original story and the characters and then we can be playful in how we want to reimagine the story
At this stage, where is this piece going and how are you reimagining the work into your own piece?
We have a three act structure that centres Nedda’s dilemma and struggle. We are very much exploring her perspective in this piece.
