A bold new take on Gianni Schicchi (or Where There’s A Will) brings a classic roaring into the 21st Century in a production touring mid-scale venues nationwide in Spring 2026

Following their much-admired reworking of Vaughan Williams Riders to the Sea in 2025 – “a unique theatrical experience” (Stage Masters) that “packs a punch” (The Times) – OperaUpClose announce a major new production for Spring 2026 with Gianni Schicchi, playfully retitled Where There’s A Will. 

Artistic Director Flora McIntosh said: “Gianni Schicchi (or Where There’s A Will) is the next in OperaUpClose’s season of Reinventions. We are thrilled to be working with a team of such exceptional artists, reinterpreting a classic in a bold and hugely entertaining dialogue between the contemporary and the established,  bringing world-class opera at a chamber scale to venues across the UK.”

Writer Hannah Kumari, described by The Stage as “deceptively subversive,” and composer Vahan Salorian, praised by Bachtrack as “truly genre-breaking,” take inspiration from wildly popular modern day ‘whodunnits’ such as The White Lotus and Knives Out in a brilliantly satirical and transformative take on this much-loved family farce. Featuring some of the most famous music in opera, the original score is reimagined for an ensemble of 10 storyteller-musicians (6 opera singers, accordion, cello, clarinet and violin) in a reworked English libretto that give a new energy and immediacy to both music and narrative.

When a wealthy second-home owner throws one last seasonal soirée, the evening quickly unravels. Enter Gianni Schicchi, the cunning opportunist who promises salvation but  exposes the greed, entitlement and hypocrisies of the bourgeois elite instead. This new version asks urgent questions about complicity and accountability, taking a subversive and satirical look at a world where everyone is out for themselves. 

Under the “sharp and intelligent” direction of PJ Harris, winner of the 2025 Sky Arts Award for his Simone Boccanegra at Opera North, and with violinist Simon Hewitt Jones leading the ensemble, the cast includes the “heroically rich-toned” Dan D’Souza (The Guardian) in the title role, rising star soprano Cerefina Penny as Lauretta, and celebrated Irish bass John Malloy as Simon. 

Tapping into the increasingly popular world of performance poetry, the production will open with a specially commissioned spoken word overture,  written and performed by rising star Ri Baroche, reframing Puccini’s satire within a distinctly 21st-century voice and drawing direct parallels between the operatic and spoken word art forms. 

From their base at Mayflower Studios, Southampton, OperaUpClose are leading the way in challenging perceptions of what opera is, who makes it and who it is for, extending the artform’s reach through cross-disciplinary and co-creative collaborations, and championing innovation and excellence at a chamber scale as part of  a diverse and sustainable eco-system for the sector. 

“OperaUpClose are reaching new heights of artistic expression” (Opera Today)

OperaUpClose’s charming jukebox production OperaCocktail will also return in 2026, touring to rural locations in the Southwest, offering audiences a lively mix of classic opera highlights presented in the company’s signature style that combines the contemporary with the established. Playful and inviting, OperaCocktail introduces opera to audiences in an intimate, accessible way, complementing the larger scale reinventions of the current season. 

Also in 2026, in a reinvention for the youngest audiences, OperaUpClose will tour their newly commissioned opera for 2-5 year olds based on David Wiesner’s much-loved picture book, Flotsam, with words and music by the ‘creative force of nature’ (BBC Radio 3) Dr Kerry Andrew, in partnership with London’s Half Moon Theatre.

Gianni Schicchi (or Where There’s A Will) will tour mid-scale venues across the UK in Spring 2026, see dates below:

Venues & Dates 

Mayflower Studios, Southampton: 5 – 7 March 2026

Minerva Theatre, Chichester: 11 – 12 March 2026

Cambridge Arts Theatre, Cambridge: 15 March 2026

Blackpool Grand Theatre, Blackpool: 17 March 2026

artsdepot, London: 19 March 2026

Theatre Royal: The Drum, Plymouth: 21 March 2026