Dalston has changed somewhat since 2007, the year that Arcola Theatre presented the first season of Grimeborn, its annual “alternative” opera festival. Now there are more natural wine bars, small-plates restaurants, jazz clubs and sourdough bakeries than you can shake a stick at. Yet there’s still grit and grime on the surrounding streets – this is London, after all – and Grimeborn still feels right at home there.
Its 2025 season closes with Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor, one of the cornerstones of the 19th century repertoire. The opera derives from a Walter Scott novel; Rosie Kat’s production for Barefoot Opera makes passing reference to the Scottish setting by way of a folk song inserted before the opera begins, but the costumes are a version of everyday modern that could be anywhere.
