Opera transformed with a Yorkshire dialect

Mozart’s *The Marriage of Figaro* has been adapted into Bradford and Yorkshire dialect for the Bradford Opera Festival, bringing the classic into a local setting. The production aims to make opera accessible to people in the city while exploring themes of power, sex and gender that the creative team says still resonate.

Set in early 1970s Bradford, the opera follows the festival’s Yorkshire-dialect *Barber of Seville*, set five years earlier with the same characters. The new version blends Western and Indian classical instruments, with some sections in Urdu and Punjabi; the city’s Pakistani population grew from about 12,000 in 1964 to more than 21,000 by 1970. Two Bradford performances are nearly sold out, and the production is also touring Leeds, Skipton and London; organisers say 80% to 95% of their audiences are new to opera.