CARMEN’s VOICE

Wednesday 25 November 2026 at 7.30pm Trafalgar Warehouse Sheffield S1 4JT

Carmen was never a love story.

Atelier Armonico presents Carmen’s Voice, a new adaptation of Bizet’s iconic opera created in collaboration with IDAS, the largest specialist charity in the north of England supporting people impacted by domestic abuse and sexual violence.  This production premieres on 25 November, coinciding with 16 Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence.

Bringing Carmen from nineteenth century Seville into contemporary Northern England, Carmen’s Voice invites audiences to see this familiar story through the lens of lived experience. 

The production is developed through creative workshops with survivors of domestic and sexual abuse in Yorkshire, and places them at the heart of the artistic process. The women’s voices and perspectives have helped shape the themes, language and dramatic world of the production, bringing Carmen’s story into a contemporary context.

Carmen’s Voice strips back one of opera’s most iconic stories, offering a rendition that focuses on the psychological and emotional journey of Carmen.  The result is a contemporary Carmen that champions real women’s voices while retaining the extraordinary musical power of Bizet’s original. Performed in English, this production features a 12 piece chamber orchestra that gives audiences a unique and intimate experience of theatre rooted in reality. 

At its heart, Carmen’s Voice asks who gets to speak, who gets to be heard and who gets to shape the stories we tell?