After Aida

After the triumphs of Aida and the Requiem in the early 1870s, the composer Verdi has retired to the country. His two friends, Ricordi the publisher and Faccio the conductor, convinced that Verdi should write another opera, finally manage to persuade him to collaborate with the young librettist Arrigo Boito on a new work, Otello

"Julian Mitchell has focussed on a turning point in Verdi's creative life, combined it with a fine selection of opera excerpts, and come up with an intelligent, humourous and accessible piece of theatre" ~ Helen Rose, Time Out

"...the main business of the drama - the plot to entice the old man from retirement - is quite riveting... For all that we know the outcome, it has us on tenterhooks!" ~ David Cairn, The Sunday Times

"...has been conceived with wit and clarity, written, designed and directed with singular style, [and] enacted with panache, infused with quality!" ~ Sally Osman, Western Mail

"After Aida ... is a triumph in every respect" ~ Francis Wheen, Sunday Today