19:30-20:15, Friday 27th June 2025
Alphabetti Theatre
Music & Direction: Russell Plows
Words/Performance: Joanna Gamble and Neil Balfour
It Must Have Been a Tuesday is a unique performance exploring what happens when you deprive an opera singer of props, set, costume – even character. Inspired by the hit US storytelling event The Moth, Hull Urban Opera’s event is an excercise in warm, direct communication of a true and momentous event in the lives of two people. The stories aren’t easy to tell but they are both powerful and mesmerising.
Developed over time and created as part of its nurturing of Yorkshire talent, the show sees two opera singers speak and sing without artifice about a life-changing moment, with no support other than a solo violin. The heartfelt true stories about learning to embrace one’s ethnicity and coming to terms with newly-discovered siblings in Brazil are told by Yorkshire-based Mezzo Joanna Gamble and Bass-Baritone Neil Balfour, accompanied by Ellie Gaynard with music by HUO Artistic Director Russell Plows.
Hull Urban Opera is an innovative collective in East Yorkshire specialising in immersive and digital opera. Its “Bumps in the Night” series is a family favourite in Hull and its digital Punch & Judy opera, “Crocodile”, was recently broadcast on Sky Arts.
Age range: All ages, but mostly adults
In a festival of new work, please note that shows may overrun.
Produced by Hull Urban Opera
Venue: Alphabetti Theatre, St James Boulevard, Newcastle Upon Tyne, United Kingdom NE1 4HP
On the same day:
Music & Direction: Russell Plows
Words/Performance: Joanna Gamble and Neil Balfour
Violinist: Ellie Gaynard Evans