From Theatre Breaks

The King's Head Theatre Islington

115 Upper Street, London - 020 3286 8788

The newly appointed artistic director of Islington's King's Head Theatre Adam Spreadbury-Maher, who takes over full time from October, plans to relaunch the famous Islington pub theatre as London's "little opera house" and a full-time producing venue.

London’s King’s Head theatre is to re-launch as London’s Little Opera House later this autumn, under the Artistic Directorship of Adam Spreadbury-Maher.

Playwright Mark Ravenhill has been appointed Associate Director and will write and direct two operas in 2011, while the theatre’s patrons include Jonathan Miller, Joanna Lumley, Alan Parker, Tom Stoppard and Janie Dee.

Forthcoming: The Barber of Seville

Spreadbury-Maher' stenure at The King's Head will launch with a programme which is dominated by opera and musical theatre, particularly new work.

The season will continue with a new version of Madam Butterfly and two UK premieres of Phillip Glass operas.

OperaUpClose plan to present the UK premiere of Philip Glass' opera The Sound of a Voice. The company will also present Shostakovich's light opera Cheryomushki followed by a Christmas run of Puccini's Madam Butterfly, in a new and radical translation by Ben Cooper.

Spreadbury-Maher will direct both operas.

The King’s Head theatre opened in the back room of an Islington pub in 1970, run by American Dan Crawford. When Crawford died in 2005, his wife Stephanie Sinclaire continued to realise his dream, refurbishing the 120-seat venue before passing the baton to Spreadbury-Maher. It has helped launch the careers of dozens of famous names, including Kenneth Branagh, Ben Kingsley, Gary Oldman and Alan Rickman.

Spreadbury-Maher is the founder of the OperaUpClose company, which is dedicated to presenting new, challenging and classic operas in intimate spaces. It was recently hugely successful with its staging of La Bohème, which proved so successful at the Cock Tavern theatre that it transferred to Soho theatre, where it played a sell out season.]