John Woolrich's first opera is a dark, comic fairy story with a libretto by Marina Warner inspired by Apuleius's The Golden Ass. Aspects of surrealism, folklore and commedia dell'arte intermingle - and there is much cross-dressing as the members of the all-women cast switch gender.
Humphrey Carpenter introduces the first performance of the opera, given last July by Music Theatre Wales in Cheltenham's Everyman Theatre on the opening night of the Festival, and discusses it with the composer and Marina Warner.
Producer Jeremy Hayes