The Information On `The Carmelites'

What Is It?

Phyllida Lloyd's staging for the ENO of Poulenc's French Revolution opera, adapted from a play by Georges Bernanos, about Carmelite nuns facing execution.

Who's In It?

Elizabeth Vaughan's death-bed scene as the delirious Madame de Croissy is the evening's dramatic highlight, while there are strong individual performances from Susan Gritton as Sister Constance, Rita Cullis as Madame Lidoine, Josephine Barstow as Mother Marie and Joan Rodgers' Blanche

What They Say About It

"The real strength of Lloyd's production is the way in which she has revitalised its dramatic imperative. She really uses the music... a flawed piece but a flawless presentation," Edward Seckerson, The Independent.

"Even in a production as powerfully focused as ENO's, the dialogues have a gnawing tendency to meander... The great merit of Phyllida Lloyd's staging is that it brings alive the nuns' ignorant superstitions and hothouse obsessions, without turning into bathos or melodrama," Andrew Clark, Financial Times.

Where You Can See It

The Carmelites is at the Coliseum, London WC2 (0171-632 8300) until 10 Jun