The Burning Question

About

The Burning Question is a new, comic opera about the adventures of a female pope who’s recently passed into the afterlife. She was so successful in the job that she’s now required to go and sort out Hell. ​Attended by a demonic manservant and an angelic maid, she was expecting nothing less than a cosy retirement in paradise, but Someone has other ideas and the elevator going upwards gets stuck. It's a Day of Wrath! What does St Peter, the Caretaker, know? Does he hold the key to the plot? Accompanied by piano duet and a choir of heavenly voices, this is a satire that confronts the ridiculous, the sublime, love, death and comic opera all at the same time. ​ The production is choreographed in the lively style of commedia dell’arte. The music owes much to Italian opera and is performed by a superb cast of young professionals. It delighted audiences when first performed at Tête-à-Tête: The Opera Festival in 2022.