Owen Davies was brought up in London but has Welsh roots. He was raised on chapel hymns, Handel oratorios and Mozart arias. He began going to the theatre in the 1960s and, as a teenager, used to stand at the back of the Old Vic stalls to watch Olivier's National Theatre productions. He also saw many RSC productions at the Aldwych in the 1960s. At this time he also began to see operas at Covent Garden and developed a love for Mozart, Verdi and Richard Strauss. After a career as a social worker and a trade union officer, Owen has retired from paid employment but is a student at Rose Bruford College studying for a BA in Opera Studies.
“Behold the light of despair, the glare of anguish”. It is so difficult to know where to start with this extraordinary work by composer Philip Venable...
Ronald Harwood has a real talent for conjuring up the world of theatre and the pains and pleasures of those who make their living by performing, in th...
The English National Opera’s revival of The Marriage of Figaro is a welcome success after recent troubles. Fiona Shaw, who was the original director o...
What is the opposite of “turning in your grave”? Because whatever it is that is what W. S. Gilbert is surely doing today. He was the master of gentle ...
Will Penswick bills himself as the worst performance poet in the world. Don’t believe him – this is a seriously funny show and he is a very sharp perf...
Every opera company needs a top quality production of Traviata that it can roll out to bring in the crowds and fill the coffers. Verdi’s tuneful and t...
John Coke and his team at Bury Court have conjured up a minor miracle with a production of Giulio Cesare that does full justice to one of Handel’s fin...
The Beast from the East nearly ruined the first night of ETO’s new production of The Marriage of Figaro. There were a lot of empty seats at the Hackne...
This Verdi blockbuster, chosen by Welsh National Opera as part of their ‘Rabble Rousers’ season, deals with the malevolent effect of fate on three peo...
Puccini’s masterpiece Tosca was first performed in Rome in 1900. It is a tale of sedition, torture, rape, and betrayal and it is easy to understand wh...
