I committed a cardinal sin at the Wexford Festival Opera

The waitress is inviting me to dance. I accept her outstretched hand and make a feeble attempt at some swing moves, which others around me appear to be adopting. It looks more like I’m doing the floss (badly) and luckily I am returned to my chair before further humiliation arises. My fleeting – and now fleeing – dance partner is wearing a t-shirt that says ‘Adina’s’ in a friendly cursive font.

All waiting staff are dressed thus, and a neon sign above my table further underlines the restaurant’s name. My fellow diners are all wearing the same anticipatory expression: delight tinged with mild apprehension. That’s because the bar is a set – and we, the audience, are on-stage among the cast. 

This is Wexford Festival Opera’s community production of Donizetti’s The Elixir of Love, starring professional singers from the organisation’s young artist programme alongside various members of local arts groups. I settle back as squash is poured into my glass, realising that I’ve committed the cardinal sin of arriving shortly before curtain-up to an immersive show. I’m seated facing the gap between the rows of tables and must now pay the price: active participation.

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Our restauranteur is not short of admirers. When his affections are once again spurned, Nemorino, tonight sung by Paolo Nevi (there are multiple casts sharing the run) opts for a magic potion, which turns out to be red wine, to secure Adina (Laura Aherne)’s love. Rather like the Felix Felicis that Ron takes in Harry Potter, the psychosomatic effect on Nemorino fills him with confidence, making him more attractive to Adina, who has since agreed to marry Belcore (David Kennedy). Feeling that he needs more potion, Nemorino joins the army to raise the funds; when Adina finds out, she realises that she’s loved him all along.

Wexford’s show – a compact and accessible English-language version of the 19th-century Italian classic – takes place across two floors of former industrial space the Grain Store, where the lower decks make a perfect setting for Adina’s basement. Linen baskets among the casks hide canoodling lovers, for whom this opera brings a very happy ending. The production is slick – it’s almost impossible to identify those participants who do not do this as a full-time job.

Ever since it was first conceived in 1951 – when Compton MacKenzie, erstwhile editor of the Gramophone, visited the Irish town to give a talk at an opera society and suggested that the group put on real-life performances, as well as listen to recordings – Wexford Festival Opera has been a community undertaking. 

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The autumn festival (scheduled to take place from 17 October to 1 November in 2025) is marked by musically themed window displays across the high street, while the large-scale volunteer programme (which includes around 400 individuals, with a prize for volunteer of the year) is enhanced by creative opportunities – next year’s community opera will be A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Britten).

And so Wexford has become an internationally renowned centre for opera. Main stage performances (often of rarely heard works – Stanford’s The Critic was the star attraction this year) take place in the National Opera House, supported by smaller ‘pocket operas’ (such as a new work by Alberto Caruso with a libretto by Colm Tóibín about John Millington Synge’s once-controversial play The Playboy of the Western World) and free-to-attend pop-up performances in pubs and shops. 

Further unusual sightings can be experienced in the Viking town: road diversions on my arrival were due to current Taoiseach Simon Harris making his way to meet volunteers. Keir Starmer might have sent his best wishes to Leeds International Piano Competition, but the Irish prime minister supported his nation’s cultural endeavours in person. It seems we can learn from Wexford’s example in more ways than one. 

Get information on next year’s Wexford Festival Opera here. Claire Jackson is a freelance writer.

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