Sally Potter

Carmen Blog

  • The Publicity Machine

    • Posted on 27th Sep
    • Category: Carmen
    Yesterday morning, a few hours before our dress rehearsal, I participated in ‘Midweek’, a live radio show famous for its remarkably varied participants. Libby Purves is the presenter/interviewer and she navigates a strange and contradictory terrain...

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  • Running

    • Posted on 20th Sep
    • Category: Carmen
    The work in the studio hits the stage and I’m running. I try to answer constant questions from all members of the team whilst keeping my eye focussed on the unfolding picture...

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  • Let There Be Light

    • Posted on 17th Sep
    • Category: Carmen
    I spent the weekend in the theatre. As the lovely September sun streamed down outside, we sat in the dark looking at lights...

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  • Slow Slow, Quick Quick Slow

    • Posted on 13th Sep
    • Category: Carmen
    A rehearsal process such as this (4 weeks in the studio with the singers before attempting to stagger through the acts on stage in the Coliseum) demands incredibly detailed planning followed by very quick thinking when the plan doesn’t work...

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  • Volver

    • Posted on 10th Sep
    • Category: Carmen
    On Friday night, in celebration after having run Act One for the first time, I put on some earrings and went out dancing with Pablo.

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  • Bare Bones

    • Posted on 8th Sep
    • Category: Carmen
    As rehearsals for Carmen roll relentlessly onward, memories of earlier theatrical experiences have re-surfaced.

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  • To Tell the Truth

    • Posted on 2nd Sep
    • Category: Carmen
    I was touched to receive some messages of reassurance as "comments" after my blog about insomnia.

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  • Passion, Obsession, and Insomnia

    • Posted on 28th Aug
    • Category: Carmen
    Three weeks into rehearsal and I am now well into the pattern so familiar from film shoots.

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  • The Bullfight

    • Posted on 23rd Aug
    • Category: Carmen
    During our first week of work together in Spain last year Es and I decided we had to go to a bullfight.

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  • Tangopera / Hiphopera

    • Posted on 20th Aug
    • Category: Carmen
    For the last two weeks we have been searching for – and finding - the dance language for Carmen.

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  • Joy of the Model Box

    • Posted on 11th Aug
    • Category: Carmen
    In the early weeks of rehearsal there are lines of tape on the floor of the studio which represent the layout of the design.

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  • Imaginary Spain

    • Posted on 8th Aug
    • Category: Carmen
    Bizet never went to Spain, but nevertheless felt he somehow knew it well enough to set an opera there.

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  • Warming Up

    • Posted on 7th Aug
    • Category: Carmen
    Yesterday Pablo, Lucila and I met for the first day of rehearsals in the cavernous studio at Lilian Baylis House where we will now be for the next six weeks.

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  • A Voice Called Alice

    • Posted on 2nd Aug
    • Category: Carmen
    During the weeks leading up to the start of rehearsals various dramas have erupted about the translation of the libretto of Carmen into English. At root the impulse behind such dramas is entirely correct.

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  • Auditions

    • Posted on 30th Jul
    • Category: Carmen
    Auditions can be cruel affairs. The air is thick with fear of rejection, and the potential for humiliation is enormous.

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  • Carmen

    • Posted on 13th Jul
    • Category: Carmen
    When I was approached by John Berry to direct CARMEN for the ENO, I only prevaricated for a year or so (!) before deciding that if I was going to direct an opera it may as well be the most popular one of all time on at least two counts

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