THE DECISION

Opera Production
March 2023
The Engine Room, Birmingham


Birmingham Opera Company stages a new production of German dramatist Bertolt Brecht’s agitprop cantata The Decision. Performances take place in the Great Hampton Works, a late Victorian former jewellery workshop in Birmingham.

The piece follows four Communist agitators from Moscow who have returned from a successful mission in China. However, during their mission they had been forced to kill an enthusiastic young comrade who in his devotion to the cause exposes himself and risks the mission and lives of the four protagonists.


‘Strong and coherent’ - The Guardian
︎︎︎︎ Read full review here


‘An impressive immersive take on Brechtian drama’ - The Stage
︎︎︎︎ Read full review here

Credits

Text & Lyrics
Bertolt Brecht

Music
 Hanns Eisler

Translation
 John Willett

Director
Anthony Almeida

Conductor
Alpesh Chauhan OBE

Designer
Claudia Fragoso

Chorus Directors
Mariana Rosas
Themba Mvula


Featuring
Wendy Dawn Thompson
Aimee Berwick
Therese Collins
Paksie Vernon

The Birmingham Opera Company Chorus and Actors

Players from the CBSO Youth Orchestra & the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire

Production Team

BIRMINGHAM OPERA COMPANY

General Director
Richard Willacy

Music Director
Alpesh Chauhan OBE

General Manager
Hannah Griffiths

Creative Producer
Diandra McCalla

Development Coordinator
Charlotte Titcombe

Company Accountant
Shohaib Shafiq
Lighting
Programmer
Simon Swift

Production Manager
Eric Hickmott

Project Consultant
Khalid Butt

Acoustician
Nicolas Edwards

Structural Engineer
Sibam Somars

Associate Choreographer
Ron Howell

Casting Consultant
Sarah Playfair

Projects Consultant
Sheelagh Barnard
Costume Supervisor
Hannah Marshall

Wardrobe Manager
Kaz Connolly

Costume Makers
Caroline Mirfin
Jackie Cottom
Rebecca Kemsley
Summer Makin

Stage Managers
Jenny Campbell
Nicola Donithorn

Assistant Stage Managers
Tsiala Corboz Werntz
Kirsty Bower



Production Photos
Images courtesy Marcin Cz and Adam Fradgley