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Deloitte Ignite at the Royal Opera House
Introduced by Rachel Halliburton. Illustration Christian Tate

Posted: Tue Jun 2 2009
This September 4, 5 and 6, Time Out will be curating 'A Festival of Mirrors', a three-day festival at the Royal Opera House, sponsored by Deloitte, to champion innovation in the arts. Our panel of editors has approached the artists who have excited us most in recent years to create works that will reveal the hidden dimensions of this world-famous institution
With ‘A Festival of Mirrors’, we’ve chosen a theme that sums up the Royal Opera House both as a public and private place, a place which creates illusions on an industrial scale, yet also touches both audiences and performers more personally. The mirror embraces all that, not least because its presence dominates the building – in the shimmering glamour of the Paul Hamlyn Hall or the Crush Room, in the studios where dancers perfect their poses, in the dressing rooms, or even in the royal box where Queen Victoria once sat. We invite you into our looking-glass world with its dazzling range of moods and provocative perspectives. Here’s just a taste of what’s on show – see you in September! Feature continues

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Music headliner TBA
Listen, we hate keeping secrets from you, but we have to keep our music headliner under our hat for the moment. Keep reading Time Out, and visiting www.timeout.com/rohweekend to get updates on the
line-up as we get nearer the big event...

Comedy sleights of hand
Chris Cox (mind-reader, pictured) and other leading comedians from the New Magic scene perform their anarchic brand of magic in the Linbury Studio.

Mirrorball disco as you’ve never seen it before
Hot young choreographer Ben Wright has created a breathtaking piece which is essentially a mass disco-dancing class. A great chance to banish your inhibitions, ’70s-style.

Brand new video
Kathleen Herbert caught our attention when she released horses into Gloucester Cathedral at night and filmed them as they explored the space. Her new commission is based on the discovery of limelight, first used at the Royal Opera House in its incarnation as the Theatre Royal.

Yinka Shonibare
Royal Opera House-commissioned piece from the Turner Prize-nominated artist. ‘Odile and Odette’ shows two ballerinas, one black and one white, who explore the ‘Swan Lake’ roles of Odile and Odette through a baroque mirror.

Vogue, Vogue,Vogue
Come to our vogue ball – inspired by the NYC scene from the early ’90s – and make sure you’re wearing an elaborate costume.

Unique theatre
Critically acclaimed site-specific theatre company Dreamthinkspeak creates a new piece based on Thomas Adès’s brilliant, waspish opera, ‘Powder Her Face’.

Fashion goes wild
Cross-dressing is a predominant theme in opera. So we’ve invited cabaret artist Jonny Woo – a major figure on the alternative cabaret scene – to present his outrageous, opera-inspired fashion show.

Caustic cabaret
Bourgeois & Maurice, London’s answer to Kiki & Herb, bring their original, hilarious, edgy, multimedia cabaret, ranging from pharmaceutical drugs to the perils of art school and celebrity.

Expect the unexpected
Time Out collaborates with ROH director Will Tuckett and artist Adrian Lee on two secret projects to delight and provoke festivalgoers.

Get operatic online
Take part in our great online opera experiment: look out for more details on the Royal Opera House’s website (www.roh.org.uk).

Plus…
A silent disco in Covent Garden, a chance to lie down and listen to classical music, a brand new dance commission from Angela Woodhouse, alternative theatremaker Chris Goode takes on masculinity and Time Out Film editor Dave Calhoun presents a series of films inspired by mirrors.

Sign up to receive regular updates and to find out how you can reserve your tickets (www.roh.org.uk/deloitteignite ).
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