Ariadne/Dido and Aeneas review – English Touring Opera conjures two strikingly different mythological worlds

English Touring Opera’s autumn season pairs Elena Langer’s short opera *Ariadne* with Purcell’s *Dido and Aeneas*, presenting two contrasting stories of women abandoned or brought down. At London’s Hackney Empire, the productions use different theatrical worlds to explore those fates, with *Ariadne* praised for its musical and visual imagination and *Dido and Aeneas* for its compelling schoolyard staging.

Jessica Cale’s bright soprano leads the 20-minute *Ariadne*, accompanied by four musicians, while Anna Morrissey’s staging uses a red thread and a rotating bed to suggest Theseus’s departure. In *Dido and Aeneas*, Rebecca Meltzer frames the cast as school pupils and gives the witches a bullying, queen-bee dynamic; Samantha Price sings expressively as Dido. The review finds the staging effective but argues that making Dido a victim from the outset weakens the sense of a queen and her realm undone by passion and the gods. The production plays Buxton on 24 October and tours until 21 November.