Seems odd the perfect combination between Devizes’ only theatre, The Wharf, and one of the longest-running performance group, White Horse Opera hasn’t linked before, but they are set to do so in March with a performance of Jacques Offenbach’s Opéra bouffe, La Belle Hélène…..
Okay, this is not exactly true. Barbara Gompels of the White Horse Opera told us many years ago there was a one night show at the Wharf with the opera’s touring show, but this will be the first main opera held at our wonderful theatre here in Devizes, so I’m not totally fibbing!
La Belle Hélène is a comic opera in three acts parodying the story of Helen of Troy’s elopement with Paris, which evoked the Trojan War. The premiere at Paris’s Théâtre des Variétés in 1864 rekindled Offenbach’s operas with his audience, after six years attempting to emulate his success with the risqué satire of Greek mythology, Orphée aux Enfers.
Having been promised the most beautiful woman in the world by Venus, Paris arrives disguised as a shepherd boy with the aim of cashing in that promise. Helene, currently married to Menelaus, wards off his advances. However, when Paris comes to her while she is sleeping she believes it all to be in her dreams so it must therefore “be all fine.”
Do come and see the fireworks that ensue when Menelaus comes home early and discovers the lovers!
Fully staged and sung in English with an orchestra, tickets are now available, and the show runs from Tuesday 11th until Saturday 15th March.
Tickets from Devizes Books and hwww.ticketsource.co.uk/whitehorseopera
Trending….
Donovan or Donoless, Fulltone Festival is a Cake Tray!
Images by Gail Foster Regretfully I must report that due to a personal issue Jason Donovan is unable to sing at Devizes’ Fulltone Festival this…
Keep reading
Strange Days Indeed, at The Barge on HoneyStreet
Earthlings and all other organic lifeforms with a taste for the occult, fortean and general weirdness are heading to The Barge at HoneyStreet the first…
Keep reading
Fortnightly Banking Drop-in Sessions Replaces Devizes’ Lloyds….
No smiling faces in this snap! Our MP Brian Matthew met with representatives from Lloyds Bank yesterday to raise concerns about the closure of the…
Keep reading
“Gaslight” at The Mission Theatre, Bath, July 8th-11th 2026
by Ian Diddams images by Michael Stevens – Pharos Photography Shakespeare is credited as having introduced around 1,700 words into the English language, and several…
Keep reading
Bird is The Word Caged! Trowbridge’s New Music Venue Coming Soon
It looks like fowlers have finally caught them! I mean, wildly flying around, daytime clubbing, karaoke cavorting, supporting and promoting local live music, who does…
Keep reading
Deadlight Dance New Single & Video
New single from our gothic duo Deadlight Dance, taken from March’s album Vox Populi…. Second tune on the album, a ballad to the poisonous evergreen…
Keep reading
Who’s Lovin a Devizes McDonalds and Tesco?
For what it’s worth, I’m impartial to the prospect of McDonalds, Tesco too. I’ve got viewpoints to waffle endlessly with no real conclusion, if you’ve…
Keep reading
Brian on FullTone Festival
Our regular historian and Visiting Research Fellow of The Regional History Centre, UWE Bristol, Brian Edwards takes some time to sketch the FullTone Orchestra ahead…
Keep readingCSF Professional Wrestling Returns to Devizes
The larger than life superstars from CSF PROFESSIONAL WRESTLING return to Devizes, Wiltshire on July 11th for a very special edition of SATURDAY NIGHT SLAM,…
Keep reading
Update on the Update of a Postcard Fiasco as Untouchable Newsquest Joins the Party!
Though I wish it would be dropped and faded into the archives, it’s got legs! We’re still on about “postcardgate,” but the trivia sometimes becomes…
Keep reading
devizine.com 
One thought on “La Belle Hélène; White Horse Opera’s Debut at The Wharf Theatre”