Following its opening at the Manchester International Festival, the English National Opera will give Damon Albarn’s opera, Dr Dee, its London premiere in June, directed by Rufus Norris. Forming part of the London 2012 Festival, there will be eight performances at the London Coliseum, beginning on Monday 25th June.
Pop polymath Albarn has worked closely with Norris, whose recent credits include the award-winning National Theatre production London Road, alongside a team that includes set designer Paul Atkinson, lighting wizard Paule Constable and the acclaimed video production company Fifty Nine Productions. The opera charts the fall of maverick Elizabethan mathematician, courtier and occultist John Dee and is Albarn’s second opera after Monkey: Journey to the West which he created with his Gorillaz collaborator, the artist Jamie Hewlitt.