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Lesley Garrett

Emcee

Mezzo-soprano

Madeleine Shaw

Lady Rhondda

Rosie Hay

Sybil

Paula Greenwood

Prid

Meriel Andrew

Edith

Monika Sawa

Birkenhead

Carolyn Jackson

Churchill

Conductor

Nicola Rose

Stage director

Caroline Clegg

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Lara Booth

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Elanor Higgins

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Berrak Dyer

Kate Woolveridge

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Rhondda Rips It Up!

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The Riverfront

Rhondda Rips It Up! Langer

Public

Approved

Malvern Forum Theatre

This thigh-slapping romp through the world of suffrage and song is told through the lens of music-hall and fittingly sports an all-female cast and creative t...

Rhondda Rips It Up! production Trailer

This summer Welsh National Opera will present Rhondda Rips It Up! a new production celebrating the life of suffragette Margaret Haig Thomas, Lady Rhondda. In the first episode of our serialized videos the creative team explores the inspiration behind the opera, and the process they go through to create the opera. This summer the Welsh National Opera presents Rhondda Rips It Up! a new production celebrating the life of suffragette Margaret Haig Thomas, Lady Rhondda. In the first episode of our video series the creative team explores the inspiration behind the opera, and the processes they go through to create an opera.

Rhondda Rips It Up! Episode One | Chapter One

My Ladies, Lords and Gentlemen! WNO cordially invites you to this brand-new, rip-roaring, uproarious musical comedy.

This tongue in cheek entertainment has been created for your delectation by the illustrious Ms Elena Langer (composer and suffragette) and the inimitable Ms Emma Jenkins (librettist and suffragette); Directed by Caroline Clegg and conducted by Nicola Rose.

It is our great pleasure to take you on an unforgettable journey through the life and adventures of that unsung heroine of the Welsh Suffrage movement, Margaret Haig Thomas, the Viscountess Rhondda.

Suffragette, activist and entrepreneur, Lady Rhondda paved the way for the equal rights for women. As well as campaigning tirelessly for women’s suffrage, she became the lightning rod for women’s efforts during WW1, survived the sinking of the Lusitania and created the radical feminist magazine Time and Tide. Her indefatigable efforts and endeavours were finally rewarded when, in 1918, women over the age of thirty were enfranchised.

This thigh-slapping romp through the world of suffrage and song is told through the lens of music-hall and fittingly sports an all-female cast and creative team. The audience will be guided through the story by our very own Emcee (Lesley Garrett) following the escapades of Lady Rhondda (Madeleine Shaw) and her brave battalion of suffragettes as they fearlessly takes on Peers, politicians and post-boxes in their struggle for women’s rights.

WNO will showcase this woman’s fight for liberty, survival and equality in a number of ways: from community events, talks and schools workshops to exhibitions, interactive digital experiences as well as the production itself.

Rhondda Rips It Up! by Langer, From (2018/2018), Directed by Caroline Clegg,, Conductor Nicola Rose, The Riverfront, Newport, United Kingdom

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