Formed in 2008 and based in the South East of England, Little Bulb Theatre Company creates physical works that are written and devised by the eight-member company. Inspired by Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo, this zany but exciting production offers audiences a new twist on the perennial Orpheus theme and is the company’s most ambitious work to date. It was developed collaboratively over two years as a site-specific work for the Battersea Arts Centre and, since opening in 2013, has enjoyed critical success in tours across the UK and at the Salzburg Festival, before its premiere season in Australia at the Brisbane Festival.

^{Orpheus at the Brisbane Festival. Photo © RULER}

In this version, the re-imagining of the celebrated Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice has been transported to the Paris cabaret scene of the 1930s. The cabaret is hosted by songstress, Yvette Pépin (formidably presented by Eugénie Pastor) who, in a bizarre twist to the story, has invited the legendary guitarist Django Reinhardt (a fabulous performance by Dominic Conway) to play the role of Orpheus in a production of the work, in which she also plays his wife, Eurydice. Adding to the...