Pocket Opera 2023: Meet the Directors
Heather Hadrill and Grace Morgan
Wexford Festival Opera 2023 promises a packed programme for this year’s festival. As part of the festival’s commitment to nurturing a new generation of creative artists, WFO invited applications from young directors and set designers, who are Irish or based in Ireland, to develop stage concepts for the two Pocket Operas / Opera Beag.
Local to Wexford, Heather Hadrill’s directing credits include Handel’s Acis and Galatea and Purcell’s Dido & Aeneas for Scuola del Canto Libero, Prague; she has also directed/produced for theatre with Travelling Light Theatre Company and Four Rivers Theatre Co.
Closer to home, Heather was the Artist in Residence at Wexford Arts Centre 2021.
Heather will direct La fille du régiment by Gaetano Donizetti (1840) a well-loved comic opera following the story of an orphan girl ‘adopted’ by a regiment of soldiers.
Grace Morgan will direct Suor Angelica by Giacomo Puccini (1918). Puccini’s beautiful score tells of one woman’s ultimate sacrifice when caught in circumstances enforced upon her by both her family and society.
Grace is a theatre-maker, she is Associate Artistic Director of Pan Pan Theatre and is a founder director of theatre company tasteinyourmouth. Her recent credits include The Sudden (Dublin Dance Festival, Pan Pan), MESPIL IN THE DARK LIVE (co-director, Pan Pan) and You’re Needy (sounds frustrating at Camden People’s Theatre).
For more information about the Operas and to buy tickets, check the Festival programme.