The Magic Flute

The Magic Flute was written in 1791 by one of the world’s best known classical composers of all time, Amadaus Wolfgang Mozart. He wrote it just a few months before his premature death aged 35. The opera premiered in Vienna in September 1791 and was a success from the off. It is a magical tale that can be enjoyed on many levels; on the one hand, it’s full of magical instruments, sorcerers and wild animals embuing a fairytale world you can fully succumb to, yet there’s a deeper level to experience too. One which strongly references the secret world of freemasonry and the views held by the movement at that time which in turn, subtly criticises the religion and politics of the era.

Our production, which is sung in English, has been reimagined in 1950. Here, Hollywood glamour is epitomised by the Queen of the Night, who is modelled on the period’s leading ladies. By stark contrast Pamina is a meek and bookish London teenager and Papageno is a tweedy game-keeper, the latter representing the older working class holding on to a past way of life. The magical kingdom we’ve created represents many realities from our own world yet still has aspects of the strange and the mystical.