In Five Years' Time
‘Drama in song’ by Edward Lambert based on an experimental play by Spain’s favourite poet, Federico García Lorca.
This surreal work explores themes of love, identity, decay and death, yet does so in the manner of a fairy tale, clothed in fun and topsy-turviness. Lorca himself said his dream-world was impossible to stage, but The Music Troupe has put together a cast of 8 wonderful singers - playing 14 roles - to bring this operatic cabaret to life in the atmospheric surroundings of The Space Theatre in London's East End. The approachable music features Lambert's trademark lyricism "without feeling the least bit dated" (Broadway World).
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The Space Theatre
London E14 3RS (see below how to get there) Tuesday 24 February 2026 at 19:00 Wednesday 25 February at 19:00 Thursday 26 February at 19:00 Friday 27 February at 19:00 Saturday 28 February at 16:00 The Croft Hall, Hungerford
RG17 0HY Sunday 1 March 2026 at 16:30 |
Tickets: £15.00 - £30.00 pay what you can
Music: Edward Lambert
Words: adapted by the composer after the play Así que pasen cinco años by Federico García Lorca (1931) Musical Director / Piano: Alistair Burton Accordion: Jing Jia Lighting: Simon Pike Movement: Jenny Weston Stage Director: Walter Hall The accompaniment for this performance has been arranged by the composer from the original scoring for strings, clarinet, horn, percussion and harp. The performance lasts about 1 hour 50 minutes (including an interval)
Cabaret-style seating unreserved |
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Federico
a poet |
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James Schouten
tenor |
Rosita
Federico's secretary & in love with him |
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Fiona Hymns
soprano |
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Belisa
betrothed at first to Federico & Italian Countess |
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Lucy Gibbs
mezzo-soprano |
Pedro
friend to Federico & Colombina player in a troupe |
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Jean-Max Lattemann
counter-tenor |
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Juan
friend to Federico & Arlecchino player in a troupe |
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Chris Murphy
baritone |
Fernando
friend to Federico & Pierrot player in a troupe |
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Thomas Stevenson
bass-baritone |
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Bridesmaid 1
& Dying Child |
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Rosalind Dobson
soprano |
Bridesmaid 2
& Dying Cat |
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Mae Heydorn
contralto |
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A story that sings...
The main theme of the opera is the Poet’s search for identity in its many forms while the non-linear narrative explores the nature of time and truth. All the characters seem to slide into disillusionment and decay while a troupe of circus clowns, by contrast, is happily immersed in its own theatricality. At the start of the opera, its central character, the poet Federico, is betrothed to the voluptuous young Belisa. Since she is only 15 (marriage at 14 was legal in Spain until 2015), this gives him an excuse to postpone the wedding for five years. Impatient for sexual fulfilment, she takes a lover. Her Bridesmaids express frustration with Federico’s procrastination. Later in the opera, Belisa is ‘reincarnated’ as a deranged 'Italian' countess whose inner life has evaporated; hence, perhaps, the description of her as a Mask. Federico’s three male friends are cynical, ebullient and sensitive in turn, Fernando dwells on the past, Juan lives promiscuously in the moment, while Pedro worries about the future. They metamorphose into a trio of circus clowns who appear from time to time and guide Federico through the 'forest' of life. Meanwhile, Federico spurned his secretary, Rosita, but when the Bridesmaids tell him of Belisa’s infidelity, he resolves to seek Rosita out again. Although she once loved him, and perhaps does so still, she exacts revenge by telling him to wait five years. Disillusioned and in emotional turmoil, Federico meets a tragic end when assassinated by his friends who’ve turned against him and embraced the Falangist cause. In a sub-plot, a neighbour’s child is tragically dying and youths have cruelly stoned a cat. The Cat and Child compare notes as they lie in the mortuary; they are apprehensive about the afterlife to where they eventually pass over at the end of the opera. |
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La Barraca performs Calderon's Life is a Dream
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In January 1930 the long-standing military dictatorship of General Primo de Rivera was overthrown and this event led to the establishment of a Republic the following year. In the Constitution that was then adopted, the power of the Catholic Church was severely curtailed, and progressive policies of rights, freedoms and suffrage were carried out. As part of these reforms, the Republic’s Ministry of Education funded a theatre company charged with bringing classical Spanish theatre to rural communities and towns which were otherwise deprived of culture: “La Barraca”, as it was called, was decades ahead of its time. Federico García Lorca was appointed its director, and wrote for the group the trilogy of revolutionary plays that have made him world famous: Blood Wedding, Yerma and The House of Bernada Alba. Así que pasen cinco años immediately precedes this period and was heavily influenced by the surrealist movements of the time. Lorca’s friends Salvator Dali and Luis Buñuel had collaborated in the making of the film Un Chien Andalou (1929) and the poet was experimenting to see how this wild and wonderful new style could translate into live theatre. This operatic version is a free translation and adaptation of the text and was designed for showing in smaller venues. It inevitably irons out some of the impracticalities of Lorca’s draft which was dated 19th August 1931. Five years later, to the day, as the Nationalists rose up on the outbreak of civil war, Lorca was executed. The play received its first professional production in Spain only in 1978 and has seldom made its way into the English-speaking world.
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Rosalind Dobson studied at the University of Cambridge, Royal College of Music, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, and the National Opera Studio. Last season she worked with Garsington Opera and Opera North, as well as covering the role of Mette in Mark Antony Turnage’s Festen at the Royal Ballet and Opera, Covent Garden. She recently appeared as Lena in Salieri’s La Locandiera for Bampton Classical Opera. This season she is looking forward to performing Poulenc's La Voix Humaine with the Kyiv Symphony orchestra in Germany, as well as appearing as Gretel in Longborough's 2026 production of Hansel and Gretel.
Lucy Gibbs made her international operatic debut in 2024 as ‘Diane’ in Gluck’s Iphigénie en Tauride for Opera Ballet Vlaanderen. Her recent performances include 'L'enfant' in Ravel's L'enfant et les sortilèges for Opera Ballet Vlaanderen, 'Maman/La tasse chinoise/La libellule' in the same opera for Festival Ravel, and 'Flora' in Dove's The Enchanted Pig with the International Opera Academy and SPECTRA ensemble. Lucy, was a ‘Jeune Talent’ in the 2024 Académie Ravel in St. Jean-de-Luz, and participated in the 6. Internationale Opernwerkstatt Waiblingen in Germany. Lucy studied at Merton College, Oxford, the Royal College of Music, and graduated in 2025 from the International Opera Academy in Ghent.
Mae Heydorn recently created the title role in Café Europa, a Serbia National Theatre & Portuguese Philharmonic Orchestra collaboration which premiered at the Festival de Ópera de Óbidos in Portugal. After graduating from the GSMD she understudied Bianca in The Rape of Lucretia & Mrs Grose in The Turn of the Screw at Glyndebourne and continues her love of performing Britten’s music, notably as Auntie in Peter Grimes at the Southbank Centre. After her critically acclaimed portrayals of Erda in Wagner‘s Ring Cycle for Longborough & Regents Opera she is returning to RO this season to sing Herodias in Salome.
Fiona Hymns has performed for companies including Grange Park Opera, Buxton Festival, Longborough Festival Opera and Festival d'Aix-en-Provance. Notable recent roles include Santuzza/Nedda (Verismo, Opera on Location), Adina (L’Elisir d’Amore, St Paul's Opera), Donna Elvira (City Music Services) and Contessa (Le Nozze di Figaro, Beechwood Opera). She is in demand as a concert soloist, most recently with a performance of Handel’s Alexander’s Feast with London Lawyers Music. In 2026 she is a semi-finalist in the inaugural Rebecca Clarke Song Competition and also performs the role of Manon in Manon Lescaut for Rose Opera.
Jean-Max Lattemann is a London-based German-British counter-tenor equally at home on the opera and concert stage. He is praised by critics for his interpretations and vocal expressiveness, his repertoire ranging from early baroque to modern and contemporary music. Recent highlights include concerts in London, Heidelberg, Dresden and Vienna, as well as his debuts at the at the Staatstheater Wiesbaden and the Barockfest Darmstadt in Germany, the Dvorakova Olomouc Festival in the Czech Republic, the Théâtre National Mohammed V in Rabat in Morocco and return visits to London’s Tête-à-Tête Opera Festival. He is a graduate of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. www.jeanmaxlattemann.com
Chris Murphy studied at the University of York and is currently under the tutelage of Gary Coward. At home in both comedic and serious roles which include Dr. Bartolo in Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro (Cumbria Opera Group), Rev. Wood in John Joubert’s Jane Eyre (Green Opera), Don Magnifico in Rossini’s La Cenerentola (HGO), and Tsar Dodon in Rimsky-Korsakov’s Golden Cockerel (Orchestra Vox). Chris is also in demand as a soloist and consort singer and has sung in the UK and internationally with some of the UKs top choral ensembles.
James Schouten is a Dutch-Canadian tenor raised in the United Kingdom, who studied at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland’s Alexander Gibson Opera School and the Royal College of Music. Recently performed operatic roles include: Oedipus Rex (New Palace Opera), Loge Das Rheingold (Regents Opera), The Architect Taj Mahal (Grange Park Opera) and Bacchus Ariadne auf Naxos (Trentino Music Festival). He recently won 1st Place and Audience Prize at the 2024 Carole Rees Mastersingers Competition, performed in the Clonter Opera Prize (2024) and won the Ye Cronies Competition at RCS (2023). Upcoming performances include Froh Das Rheingold (Grange Park Opera) and the title role in Regents’ Opera’s upcoming Parsifal.
Thomas Stevenson, a graduate of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, recently created the role of 'The Knight' in Edward Lambert's The Rapture as part of the Tete a Tete Festival and was Dr Bartolo' in Saint Alban's Chamber Opera's Le Nozze Di Figaro. Previous roles include 'Simone' in Gianni Schicchi (St Albans Chamber Opera), 'Zuniga' in Carmen (Clyde Opera) and 'Tonio' in Pagliacci (North Wales Opera Studio) and, in 2024, Cadmus in Semele (Ensemble OrQuesta), Colline in La Boheme (Bread and Bus Stop) and Joseph in Bethlehem (New Sussex Opera).
Jing Jia began studying the accordion at the age of four and has performed widely in international competitions, concerts, and stage productions across Europe and Asia. After completing undergraduate and postgraduate studies in China and Denmark, he is currently pursuing an Advanced Diploma at the Royal Academy of Music under the guidance of Professor Owen Murray. With a strong classical foundation, Jing Jia is increasingly dedicated to the performance of both contemporary and classical repertoire, and takes a particular interest in collaborative and theatre-based projects.
Alistair Burton is a graduate of Cambridge University and the Guildhall School of Music and was a Young Artist at the National Opera Studio in 2024/25. He has worked as a repetiteur on contemporary operas Last Days (Oliver Leith) and GIANT (Sarah Angliss) at the Royal Ballet and Opera, and with Birmingham Opera Company, Opra Cymru, Cardiff Opera and Cumbria Opera Group. Alistair has also worked for Grange Park Opera and Buxton International Festival, and in 2026 will return to GPO as repetiteur on Das Rheingold. As an accompanist he was a semi-finalist in the Kathleen Ferrier Awards in 2025, alongside tenor Emyr Lloyd Jones.
Jenny Weston worked as a professional dancer before moving into choreography and movement direction. She has worked for Glyndebourne Festival, ENO, Opera Holland Park, New York City Opera, Long Beach Opera amongst others. For Diva Opera she has recently choreographed Le Nozze di Figaro and Don Pasquale. Jenny is pleased to be working again with The Music Troupe for whom previous productions include The Burning Question, The Last Siren and The Rapture: Donald’s Crusade.
Walter Hall is a London-based opera and theatre director. Previous engagements with the Music Troupe include Buster’s Trip (2024) and The Rapture (2025), both at the Tête à Tête festival. Assistant directing credits include Die Fledermaus, Hänsel & Gretel, Così fan tutte, and a staged Messiah, which he also revival directed last year (all for Merry Opera); Orphée aux Enfers, Don Giovanni, and Der Rosenkavalier (Opéra de Baugé); and autumn, spring and summer term scenes for the Morley College Opera School. He graduated in 2024 from the University of Bristol where as a student, he directed three operas and two plays.
Edward Lambert (b. 1951) has written 21 small-scale operas for professional performance and since 2013 has successfully mounted 15 of them with The Music Troupe, appearing in London, Brighton, Manchester, Yorkshire and Berkshire as well as regular visits to Tête-à-Tête: The Opera Festival. The group's first project was Six Characters in Search of a Stage which recently received a new production in Moscow. In 2023 The Last Siren was commissioned by the University of West London as a dementia-friendly opera and the following year the group made its first appearance at The Space, London, with The Duchess of Padua, an adaptation of the play by Oscar Wilde. The Butterfly's Spell (Lorca), Swellfellow the Tyrant (Shelley), At The Hawk's Well (W.B.Yeats) and Twelfth Night or You Know What (Shakespeare, Lambert's largest opera) await opportunities for production.
Lucy Gibbs made her international operatic debut in 2024 as ‘Diane’ in Gluck’s Iphigénie en Tauride for Opera Ballet Vlaanderen. Her recent performances include 'L'enfant' in Ravel's L'enfant et les sortilèges for Opera Ballet Vlaanderen, 'Maman/La tasse chinoise/La libellule' in the same opera for Festival Ravel, and 'Flora' in Dove's The Enchanted Pig with the International Opera Academy and SPECTRA ensemble. Lucy, was a ‘Jeune Talent’ in the 2024 Académie Ravel in St. Jean-de-Luz, and participated in the 6. Internationale Opernwerkstatt Waiblingen in Germany. Lucy studied at Merton College, Oxford, the Royal College of Music, and graduated in 2025 from the International Opera Academy in Ghent.
Mae Heydorn recently created the title role in Café Europa, a Serbia National Theatre & Portuguese Philharmonic Orchestra collaboration which premiered at the Festival de Ópera de Óbidos in Portugal. After graduating from the GSMD she understudied Bianca in The Rape of Lucretia & Mrs Grose in The Turn of the Screw at Glyndebourne and continues her love of performing Britten’s music, notably as Auntie in Peter Grimes at the Southbank Centre. After her critically acclaimed portrayals of Erda in Wagner‘s Ring Cycle for Longborough & Regents Opera she is returning to RO this season to sing Herodias in Salome.
Fiona Hymns has performed for companies including Grange Park Opera, Buxton Festival, Longborough Festival Opera and Festival d'Aix-en-Provance. Notable recent roles include Santuzza/Nedda (Verismo, Opera on Location), Adina (L’Elisir d’Amore, St Paul's Opera), Donna Elvira (City Music Services) and Contessa (Le Nozze di Figaro, Beechwood Opera). She is in demand as a concert soloist, most recently with a performance of Handel’s Alexander’s Feast with London Lawyers Music. In 2026 she is a semi-finalist in the inaugural Rebecca Clarke Song Competition and also performs the role of Manon in Manon Lescaut for Rose Opera.
Jean-Max Lattemann is a London-based German-British counter-tenor equally at home on the opera and concert stage. He is praised by critics for his interpretations and vocal expressiveness, his repertoire ranging from early baroque to modern and contemporary music. Recent highlights include concerts in London, Heidelberg, Dresden and Vienna, as well as his debuts at the at the Staatstheater Wiesbaden and the Barockfest Darmstadt in Germany, the Dvorakova Olomouc Festival in the Czech Republic, the Théâtre National Mohammed V in Rabat in Morocco and return visits to London’s Tête-à-Tête Opera Festival. He is a graduate of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. www.jeanmaxlattemann.com
Chris Murphy studied at the University of York and is currently under the tutelage of Gary Coward. At home in both comedic and serious roles which include Dr. Bartolo in Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro (Cumbria Opera Group), Rev. Wood in John Joubert’s Jane Eyre (Green Opera), Don Magnifico in Rossini’s La Cenerentola (HGO), and Tsar Dodon in Rimsky-Korsakov’s Golden Cockerel (Orchestra Vox). Chris is also in demand as a soloist and consort singer and has sung in the UK and internationally with some of the UKs top choral ensembles.
James Schouten is a Dutch-Canadian tenor raised in the United Kingdom, who studied at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland’s Alexander Gibson Opera School and the Royal College of Music. Recently performed operatic roles include: Oedipus Rex (New Palace Opera), Loge Das Rheingold (Regents Opera), The Architect Taj Mahal (Grange Park Opera) and Bacchus Ariadne auf Naxos (Trentino Music Festival). He recently won 1st Place and Audience Prize at the 2024 Carole Rees Mastersingers Competition, performed in the Clonter Opera Prize (2024) and won the Ye Cronies Competition at RCS (2023). Upcoming performances include Froh Das Rheingold (Grange Park Opera) and the title role in Regents’ Opera’s upcoming Parsifal.
Thomas Stevenson, a graduate of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, recently created the role of 'The Knight' in Edward Lambert's The Rapture as part of the Tete a Tete Festival and was Dr Bartolo' in Saint Alban's Chamber Opera's Le Nozze Di Figaro. Previous roles include 'Simone' in Gianni Schicchi (St Albans Chamber Opera), 'Zuniga' in Carmen (Clyde Opera) and 'Tonio' in Pagliacci (North Wales Opera Studio) and, in 2024, Cadmus in Semele (Ensemble OrQuesta), Colline in La Boheme (Bread and Bus Stop) and Joseph in Bethlehem (New Sussex Opera).
Jing Jia began studying the accordion at the age of four and has performed widely in international competitions, concerts, and stage productions across Europe and Asia. After completing undergraduate and postgraduate studies in China and Denmark, he is currently pursuing an Advanced Diploma at the Royal Academy of Music under the guidance of Professor Owen Murray. With a strong classical foundation, Jing Jia is increasingly dedicated to the performance of both contemporary and classical repertoire, and takes a particular interest in collaborative and theatre-based projects.
Alistair Burton is a graduate of Cambridge University and the Guildhall School of Music and was a Young Artist at the National Opera Studio in 2024/25. He has worked as a repetiteur on contemporary operas Last Days (Oliver Leith) and GIANT (Sarah Angliss) at the Royal Ballet and Opera, and with Birmingham Opera Company, Opra Cymru, Cardiff Opera and Cumbria Opera Group. Alistair has also worked for Grange Park Opera and Buxton International Festival, and in 2026 will return to GPO as repetiteur on Das Rheingold. As an accompanist he was a semi-finalist in the Kathleen Ferrier Awards in 2025, alongside tenor Emyr Lloyd Jones.
Jenny Weston worked as a professional dancer before moving into choreography and movement direction. She has worked for Glyndebourne Festival, ENO, Opera Holland Park, New York City Opera, Long Beach Opera amongst others. For Diva Opera she has recently choreographed Le Nozze di Figaro and Don Pasquale. Jenny is pleased to be working again with The Music Troupe for whom previous productions include The Burning Question, The Last Siren and The Rapture: Donald’s Crusade.
Walter Hall is a London-based opera and theatre director. Previous engagements with the Music Troupe include Buster’s Trip (2024) and The Rapture (2025), both at the Tête à Tête festival. Assistant directing credits include Die Fledermaus, Hänsel & Gretel, Così fan tutte, and a staged Messiah, which he also revival directed last year (all for Merry Opera); Orphée aux Enfers, Don Giovanni, and Der Rosenkavalier (Opéra de Baugé); and autumn, spring and summer term scenes for the Morley College Opera School. He graduated in 2024 from the University of Bristol where as a student, he directed three operas and two plays.
Edward Lambert (b. 1951) has written 21 small-scale operas for professional performance and since 2013 has successfully mounted 15 of them with The Music Troupe, appearing in London, Brighton, Manchester, Yorkshire and Berkshire as well as regular visits to Tête-à-Tête: The Opera Festival. The group's first project was Six Characters in Search of a Stage which recently received a new production in Moscow. In 2023 The Last Siren was commissioned by the University of West London as a dementia-friendly opera and the following year the group made its first appearance at The Space, London, with The Duchess of Padua, an adaptation of the play by Oscar Wilde. The Butterfly's Spell (Lorca), Swellfellow the Tyrant (Shelley), At The Hawk's Well (W.B.Yeats) and Twelfth Night or You Know What (Shakespeare, Lambert's largest opera) await opportunities for production.
Getting there...
The Space, E14 3RS
Closest station is Mudchute DLR, then 10 minutes walk, but it's very easy and probably quicker by bus 135, 277 or D7 from Canary Wharf station (Jubilee or Elizabeth line). Between them, the buses are frequent, you'd be unlucky to wait long.
Closest station is Mudchute DLR, then 10 minutes walk, but it's very easy and probably quicker by bus 135, 277 or D7 from Canary Wharf station (Jubilee or Elizabeth line). Between them, the buses are frequent, you'd be unlucky to wait long.
If arriving on the Jubilee Line...
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...go up the escalator...
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... and again...
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Turn left when you emerge from the station... walk a few yards straight on and cross the road...
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... and get to bus stop L where any bus - 135, 277 or D7 - takes you the few stops to The Space Theatre.
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If arriving on the Elizabeth Line, take the westerly exit...
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... and turn L at the top of the escalator...
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... walk a little and up those stairs to the street...
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... look R and you'll see a bus stop under a bridge...
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... and get to bus stop F. 135, 277 and D7 all go to The Space Theatre
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Alternatively, cross the road from bus stop F and get the DLR to Mudchute, from where you'll have a 10 minutes walk to the theatre.
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Buses stop directly outside The Space - that's it there, the theatre is a converted church
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Croft Hall,
Hungerford RG17 0HY |
Can't make it?
Please buy a no-show ticket!
It’s hard these days getting any artistic endeavour off the ground and we are a small charity mounting performances of a brand new opera. In doing so, we are supporting the work of talented, professional artists during a time of dwindling opportunities for them AND - we fly the flag for the survival of opera because without new, small-scale, economical works the art form will become ever more associated with its expensive and exclusive past.
Please buy a no-show ticket!
It’s hard these days getting any artistic endeavour off the ground and we are a small charity mounting performances of a brand new opera. In doing so, we are supporting the work of talented, professional artists during a time of dwindling opportunities for them AND - we fly the flag for the survival of opera because without new, small-scale, economical works the art form will become ever more associated with its expensive and exclusive past.
