Drawing on prima ballerina Irina Kolesnikov's recent visits to refugee camps in the Balkans, the St Petersburg Ballet Theatre returns to the Coliseum with Her Name Was Carmen, a new take on Mérimée’s classic.
After her family becomes a target for cruel people smugglers, free-spirited Carmen finds shelter in a refugee camp where naïve camp guard Jose and the local smuggler’s boss both fall under her spell.
Set to a re-orchestrated version of Bizet’s score played live by the orchestra of the English National Opera, this new full-length, two-act, modern dress ballet fields fifty dancers.
Irina Kolesnikova said, “Her Name Was Carmen distils the emotional directness of Bizet’s opera and speaks to timeless themes of hope and despair, suffering and a thirst for a better life. I hope this ballet will live in on in the hearts of the audience and will urge them to support and help refugees in some small way.”
A pound from every ticket sold will go to support Oxfam’s work with refugees.