Page 119 - Aldeburgh Festival 2022 FINAL COVERAGE BOOK

Violet was due to be premiered at the cancelled 2020 Aldeburgh Festival and will now open
the 2022 Festival with two performances (3 & 5 June). Following the performances at
Aldeburgh Festival, Music Theatre Wales will be touring the production to the Sherman
Theatre in Cardiff (8 June), Theatre Clwyd in Mold (19 June), in London presented by the
Royal Opera at Hackney Empire (23 June) and Buxton Festival (18 July).

Andrew Gourlay conducts the London Sinfonietta and a cast featuring Anna
Dennis (Violet), Richard Burkhard (Felix) Frances Gregory (Laura) and Andrew
Mackenzie-Wicks (The Clock Keeper). Anna Dennis replaces Elizabeth Atherton who has
withdrawn due to personal circumstances. The creative team includes director Jude
Christian, designer Rosie Elnile and costume designer Cécile Trémolières.

Violet is a co-production by Britten Pears Arts and Music Theatre Wales, staged in
association with the London Sinfonietta. The London performance is co-produced and
presented by The Royal Opera in association with Hackney Empire.

Alice Birch’s film work includes Mothering Sunday, Lady Macbeth, which won the BIFA for
Best Screenplay in 2017 and was nominated for Outstanding Debut & Best British Feature
BAFTA 2018. Alice has also written for TV, working on Normal People (BBC / Element Pictures)
adapted from the novel by Sally Rooney. Alice has also worked on their forthcoming
adaptation of Sally Rooney’s CONVERSATIONS WITH FRIENDS. 2022 will see her new TV
series, DEAD RINGERS, premiere on Amazon, on which Alice is the Lead Writer and Executive
Producer. Alice was also in the writers’ room as Story Editor for Season 2
of Succession (HBO). In theatre, Alice has written [BLANK] (Donmar Warehouse / Clean
Break); Orlando (Schaubühne, Berlin); La Maladie de la Mort (Bouffes du Nord); Anatomy of a
Suicide, Ophelia’s Zimmer, Revolt. She said. Revolt again (Royal Court Theatre); We Want You To
Watch (National Theatre); The Lone Pine Club (Pentabus); Little Light (Orange Tree); Little on the
inside (Almeida/Clean Break); Salt (Comedie de Valence); and Many Moons (Theatre503).

Tom Coult composes playful and seductive music and has been championed by many of
the UK’s major orchestras and ensembles, resulting in a series of acclaimed large-scale
pieces including Beautiful Caged Thing for soprano Claire Booth and the Mahler Chamber
Orchestra, Sonnet Machine for the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, and St John’s
Dance (premiered by Edward Gardner and the BBC Symphony Orchestra to open the First
Night of the 2017 BBC Proms). In 2021 he was made Composer-in-Association with the BBC
Philharmonic Orchestra, who have played his music on a number of occasions – the first
major piece of his residency was Pleasure Garden, a concerto for violinist Daniel Pioro, also
broadcast on BBC Radio 3.

Listings
Tom Coult music
Alice Birch libretto
Anna Dennis Violet
Richard Burkhard Felix
Frances Gregory Laura
Andrew Mackenzie-Wicks The Clockkeeper