English national opera

Unforgettable stories

Client

English National Opera (ENO)

Design

Rose

Disciplines

Campaigns | tone of voice | exhibitions

Posh and pricey.

Opera is often seen as an elitist, expensive art form. Productions are long. Everything’s in Italian. And no one’s quite sure when to clap. At least, that’s the common perception.

Since 2017, I’ve worked with the English National Opera (ENO) and, for many years, brand consultancy, Rose – to help change this impression. In many ways, it’s been a race against the clock. The ENO has legions of loyal – but aging – fans. So there’s a pressing need to introduce new audiences to opera’s magic.

Unforgettable stories.

Some of the answer has been about exploding the opera myths. Everything isn’t in Italian – in fact, every ENO production is sung in English. And tickets start at a less than eye-watering £10. But more than this, it’s been about looking beyond the misperceptions and focusing on the human stories at the heart of opera.

Love. Hate. Heartbreak. Revenge. Betrayal. Opera’s full of the same themes that make us binge box sets and obsess over Soaps. And it’s been a joy turning these universal stories into a new tone of voice, an exhibition at the Coliseum – the largest auditorium in London and the home of the ENO – and an ongoing series of seasonal marketing campaigns.

Sing when you’re winning.

Opera’s demise has been greatly exaggerated. Highlighting the human stories behind each production is persuading people to take another look at the art form. Happily, two of my campaigns have been recognised in the Design Week, Writing for Design category. But more importantly, my words are showing where they should: in the figures.

In the ENO’s Autumn 2022 and Spring 2023 seasons, 63% of audiences were first-timers – the highest number for years. And at the same time, there was a 31% increase in ticket sales to young audiences under 35, and a 92% increase to audiences under 21.

Poster for Puccini’s Madam Butterfly by ENO. A close-up of a woman’s mouth and nose in opaque white make-up with red butterfly-shaped lipstick on her lips.

Poster for Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess by ENO. A sad-looking woman embraces a man in a trilby with his back to the camera.

Poster for Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro by ENO. Five holes in a wall made of pink-confetti love hearts; one man and two women peer through three, while a kissing woman’s lips and an open mouth occupy the other two.

Poster for Britten’s A man with a donkey’s head stands encased in green fabric.

Poster for Muhly’s Marnie by ENO. A blurred colour portrait of a woman, presumably Marnie.

Poster for Verdi’s Aida by ENO. A woman stands alone in the darkness, looking up at the light

Poster for Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro by ENO. A green duvet covers three people (a man and two women), revealing only their intertwined legs. All three wear bright socks and women’s shoes.

Poster for Mozart’s The Magic Flute by ENO. A bright green snake curled up on a black background.

Poster for Gluck’s Orpheus and Eurydice by ENO. A woman in a leotard is in free fall against a plain, monochrome background.

Poster for Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld by ENO. A woman in a blue top and maroon trousers floats across an abstract sky thanks to the many helium balloons tied to her waist.

Poster for Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor by ENO. A young woman’s face is the only thing visible in a sea of black leather-gloved hands.

Poster for Mozart’s Così Fan Tutte by ENO. Two stationary fairground horses.

Poster for Wagner’s The Valkyrie by ENO. A red-headed girl walks across a scorched landscape as a bush fire rages in the background.

Poster for Gilbert and Sullivan’s Iolanthe by ENO. The chancellor of the Exchequer’s red case made of red tin and adorned with mystical fairies.

Poster for Sullivan’s Mikado by ENO. A man in an inflated black suit rises off the ground like a balloon.

Poster for Rossini’s The Barber of Seville by ENO. A woman in a Georgian-style dress with her back to the camera, her hair coiffured, tied up in a low bun, holding scissors within.

Poster for Britten’s Peter Grimes by ENO. A single man faces off a group of men with his back against the edge of a pier against an ominous sky.

Illustration of a naval captain in uniform looking through a spyglass on a small ship named Pinafore floating on stylized paper waves with a Union Jack, a cloud, and a seagull on a blue background.

Tone of voice

Correct entertaining tone of voice

Carmen’s stabbing. Canio’s double murder. Butterfly’s suicide. Gruesome endings become opera – but staging a gristly death is never easy. Slitting a performer’s throat night after night is an art all in itself.

Incorrect tone of voice

The challenges of staging a performer’s violent death are considerable. To achieve a degree of consistent realism throughout an entire production run demands ingenious stage management and imaginative prop design.

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Giuseppe Verdi

Rigoletto

Words are weapons. Sometimes they misfire.

Full of melodies that are now the musical backdrop of modern life, Verdi’s Rigoletto is one of the world’s best-loved operas. Jonathan Miller’s production is the godfather of the genre. Set in Little Italy in 1950’s New York, it is a terrific night out: a fast-paced gangster saga of jealousy, love and revenge.

The story of Rigoletto

The title character is a wise-cracking mobster who uses words as weapons. But he shoots his mouth off once too often and a misplaced joke sparks a deadly vendetta. Now the joke’s on Rigoletto as the depraved Duke seduces his daughter, Gilda. Rigoletto vows to avenge her honour and his family name.

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