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The Royal Opera
Music Director Designate
Jakub Hrůša
Director of Opera
Oliver Mears

Festen

OPERA IN THREE ACTS

Cast sheet

Friday 14 February 2025

|

7.30pm

The 2nd performance by The Royal Opera at the Royal Opera House.
Please note that casting is subject to change up until the start of the performance. Please continue to check the website for the most up-to-date information.

Exceptional philanthropic support from Royal Ballet and Opera Principal Julia Rausing Trust

With the generous support of Aline Foriel-Destezet Season Principal

Generous philanthropic support from Crevan O’Grady & Jane Mcclenahan and The Royal Opera House Endowment Fund

Supported by The London Community Foundation and Cockayne - Grants For The Arts

The role of Helena is generously supported by Malcolm Herring

A co-production with Finnish National Opera and Ballet

Approximate timings

The performance lasts approximately 1 hour and 40 minutes with no interval
Credits

Music

Mark-Anthony Turnage

Libretto

based on the Dogme film Festen by Thomas Vinterberg and Mogens Rukov

Lee Hall

Performed by permission of

Boosey & Hawkes Music Publishers

Conductor

Edward Gardner

Director

Richard Jones

Set designer

Miriam Buether

Costume designer

Nicky Gillibrand

Lighting designer

Lucy Carter

Movement Director

Lucy Burge

Festen is presented in arrangement with IPR Ltd, London in association with Nordiska ApS, Copenhagen and with kind permission of Marla Rubin Productions, producer of the original English language stage adaptation
Cast

Christian

Allan Clayton

Michael

Stéphane Degout

Helge

Gerald Finley

Else

Rosie Aldridge

replaces Eva-Maria Westbroek 

Helena

Natalya Romaniw

Helmut

Thomas Oliemans

Mette

Philippa Boyle

replaces Sophie Bevan

Grandma

Susan Bickley

Gbatokai

Peter Brathwaite

Linda

Marta Fontanals-Simmons

Chef

Aled Hall

Lars

Julian Hubbard

Pia

Clare Presland

Grandpa

John Tomlinson

Michelle

Kitty Whately

Poul

Jeremy White

Christine

Ailish Tynan

Bent

Luke Price

Lene

Kiera Lyness

Stig

Andrew O'Connor

Trine

Miranda Westcott

Renée

Elizabeth Weisberg

Lasse

Patrick Ashcroft

Leif

Eugene Dillon-Hooper

Bjorn

Dawid Kimberg

Kitchen Porter 1

Nicholas Sharratt

Kitchen Porter 2

Jonathan Fisher

Solo voices

Esther Mallett, Helen Withers, Andrea Hazell, Cari Searle, Richard Monk, Alex Haigh, Charbel Mattar, Olle Zetterström

Children

Charlotte Rice-Foley, Cruz Fitz, Arthur Moffat

Actors

Michael Barnes, Maddy Brennan, Alex Gotch, Anthony Kurt-Gabel, Caroline Lofthouse, Sam Morris, Luke Murphy, Davy Quistin, Suleiman Suleiman, Róisín Whelan

Chorus and Orchestra

Chorus

Royal Opera Chorus

Chorus Director

William Spaulding

Orchestra

Orchestra of the Royal Opera House

Concert Master

Magnus Johnston

Production credits

Music preparation

Tim Murray, Christopher Willis, Kate Golla, Richard Hetherington, Edward Reeve

Assistant Directors

Dan Dooner, Benjamin Davis

Dialect Projection Coach

Felicity Palmer

Fight Director

Bret Yount

Assistant to the Movement Director

Róisín Whelan

Dramatherapists

Patricia Ojehonmon, Kathrine Quiller

Intimacy Coordinator

Ingrid Mackinnon

Illusions

Chris Fisher

Patron

HM The King

Music Director Designate

Jakub Hrůša

Director of Opera

Oliver Mears

Director of Casting

Peter Mario Katona

Associate Director

Netia Jones

Administrative Director

Cormac Simms

The events take place in the summer of 1989, at a family-run hotel in the Danish countryside....

The events take place in the summer of 1989, at a family-run hotel in the Danish countryside. 

ACT I 

Scene 1: Arrivals  

At Helge and Else Klingefeldt’s hotel, friends, business associates and family gather to celebrate Helge’s 60th birthday. The guests herald Helge’s arrival with a Danish birthday song. Helge asks his eldest son, Christian, to say a few words about his recently deceased sister, Linda, at the forthcoming dinner, Christian reassures Helge that he is prepared. 

Scene II: Getting ready  

Christian and Pia go to his room before dinner. Michael and Mette get ready in their room. In the bathroom where Linda died, Helena and Lars find a hidden letter. 

ACT II 

Scene 1: The party

At the dinner party, guests take their seats. Christian begins the evening’s toasts, but rather than honour his father, reveals shocking family secrets. More toasts are made by the family. Christian continues to make the guests confront the truth. Not believing him, Michael and others lock him in the wine cellar to silence him. Michael leads the guests in a song insulting Helena’s boyfriend, Gbatokai. Helena reads aloud the letter found in Linda’s room. 

Scene 2

Helge hides in the kitchen. Michael finds him for a violent confrontation. Guests continue to party next door. Christian thinks about his dead sister. 

ACT III

Coda: The next morning  

Guests arrive for breakfast, greeting each other and Helge enters.

Guidance
Suitable for ages 16+ The opera contains themes of child sexual abuse, suicide and addiction. There are depictions of racist behaviour, sex and violence. Strong language is used.

Language

Sung in English with English surtitles. Captions and translations in English will be displayed on screens above the stage and around the auditorium.
Further information

If you’ve been affected by any of the issues raised in Festen, you could consider contacting: 

NAPAC - National Association for People Abused in Childhood: by telephone on 0808 801 0331 (Monday to Thursday 10am–9pm, Friday 10am–6pm) or by email at support@napac.org.uk 

Samaritans: by telephone on 116 123

The auditorium will stay open for 30 minutes after the end of the performance to allow for private reflection.

Photography and filming are prohibited during performances in any of our auditoriums. You are welcome to take pictures throughout the rest of the  building and before performances and share them with us through social media. Commercial photography and filming must be agreed in advance with our press team.

Larger bags and backpacks need to be check into our complimentary cloakrooms. Unattended bags may be removed.

Please do not place any personal belongings on the ledges in front of you. Mobile phones should be turned off and stored away safely during performances.

Only bottled water and ice cream purchased from the premises can be taken into the auditorium.

If you arrive late to the auditorium or leave during a performance, you will not be allowed back to your seat until the interval or a suitable break.

Smoking and vaping are not permitted anywhere on the premises.

The safety of our visitors, staff and artists is our priority. To help us provide a comfortable experience for everyone, please be mindful of others and their personal space.

Our staff are committed to treating everyone with dignity and respect and we ask that you show them and your fellow audience members respect too. We adopt a zero-tolerance approach in response to anyone who interacts with our staff or with fellow audience members in an intimidating, aggressive or threatening manner.

We rely on your support to make world-class ballet and opera for everyone. With your donations we can ensure a bright future for the Royal Ballet and Opera, bringing communities together and inspiring future generations up and down the country.

For people, not profit.

rbo.org.uk/donate

We are working hard on our commitment towards becoming more sustainable and are striving for our net zero goal of 2035. By using digital cast sheets and e-tickets, we have reduced our paper consumption by over five tonnes per year. You can view our digital cast sheets on a computer, tablet or smartphone by scanning the QR codes displayed around the building using your smartphone’s camera app. They are also displayed on screens outside the auditoria. Cast sheets are generously supported by the Royal Opera House Endowment Fund.

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