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 as a 'mature student' he has recently gained a certificate in Opera Studies from Rose Bruford College.
Clapham Opera Festival aims to offer a taste of opera to the folk of South London – its slogan is ‘opera for the many, not the few’. Judging by the mi...
This brilliant play finally arrives in London after triumphant runs elsewhere in the UK and South Africa. It is a deceptively simple affair – telling ...
There is every reason why the strange and unsettling fate of Joseph K, the central character of Franz Kafka’s novel, should provide fertile material f...
Traviata is a work that fits the OperaUpClose model perfectly – one or two big party scenes excepted, it is primarily a series of duets and trios. In ...
Bellini’s ‘bel canto’ operas are an acquired taste. This production of his 1831 masterpiece Norma is not likely to convert the sceptics because, despi...
There is so much energy packed into this performance of a shortened version of Much Ado that I left the theatre feeling quite exhausted. The likeable ...
Finding a way to put Greek Tragedy on a 21st Century stage is never easy. Some of the conventions of ancient theatre – the chorus, for example - do no...
This show is an absolute delight. Described as a cross between Mansfield Park, Mary Poppins, and Britain’s Got Talent, it is being developed to premie...
Britten’s major operas revolve around a series of key themes and The Turn of the Screw is the most harrowing account of one of them - the corruption o...
Shoreditch Town Hall in the heart of Hoxton is the venue for this charming, chaotic and inconsequential piece of performance theatre. Described by its...
