English National Opera is holding garage sale tomorrow
OperaThe beleaguered company is seeling off costumes, sets and furniture.
Hand-crafted props and one-of-a-kind costumes will be on sale, and the remarkable items available have each played an integral part of some of the most iconic operas. From a large exotic bird display cabinet made for a production of La Traviata to a giant bear created for a production of Lulu; there really will be the weird, the wonderful, and everything in between up for grabs.
The English National Opera yard sale will take place on July 7-8, from 10-4pm.
📍Stonelake Industrial Park, 667 Woolwich Road, SE7 8LH
Video here.
More detail here.
Not the first time there has been a sale. Remember befkre thevrenovations in 2000, going over to the old Opera Centre or similar place, buying what amounted to yards of Jane Eaglen’s costume from La Vestale for next to nothing, and it made three equally flowing concert dresses for singers I knew at the time. Also Neil Howlett’s black and gold brocade outfit he had for Philip II, to make a Verdi Requiem frock for myself. Little did I know then that I would eventually choose him as my very fine singing teacher from 2012 until he died in 2020, and tell him all about his costume and the ENO bargains! ENO simply ran out of room.
As a woman and singer yourself, I assume you didn’t intend your comment about Jane Eaglen—a great singer—as any sort of insult. Did the three singers make significant careers after inheriting the material from her costume? They should be so lucky…