Ruth Mariner
Director
I am a director & writer and working within opera and interdisciplinary performance. My work explores social justice and the interplay between the contemporary and mythical worlds through playful stylisation, magic realism, and the female gaze. Motivated by social & political interest, I create work for the opera house stage, studio theatre, and public spaces. I have created award-winning performance projects for spaces including The Linbury Studio Theatre, Royal Opera House, The Lawrence Batley Theatre and The Eden Project. Working with artists and communities internationally, my productions have been featured on BBC Radio 3, ITV and Channel 4. Since 2020, I have been expanding my practice digitally.
As a director, writer and facilitator, I love to be an invisible force for instigating, nurturing and synthesising creativity: the magician in the room. Since training at Goldsmiths, Cambridge University and Guildhall School, I've worked on baroque and contemporary chamber works, large-scale opera with leading directors and musical & theatrical collaborations with a range of artists — from singers and dancers to young people, curators, scientists and babies. Recent projects include: ‘Witch’ (Libretto) created for the bicentenary of the Royal Academy of Music in 2022, composed by Freya Waley Cohen and inspired by the occult poetry of Rebecca Tamaś. Fairy Queen, a radical reinterpretation of Purcell’s opera for Waterperry Opera Festival in 2019, focusing on the ecological aspect and pagan folklore. I am currently working on a new cross-platform opera for English National Opera, using animation, film and staged live performance. In Spring 2021 I was given a development grant by Artrs Council England to explore how my work translates into Virtual Reality. I've loved working on Mahoganny Opera's Snappy Operas, bringing high quaility music theatre into schools across the country. www.ruthmariner.co.uk
For Mahogany Opera: Snappy Operas.
