Opera and music theatre for a changing world
The Aequitas Collective
What society do we want to part of?
About Us
The Aequitas Collective is an Anglo-Icelandic group exploring notions of equality through music-theatre and opera. Formed in 2016 by singers Rosie Middleton and Isabella Leifsdottir and composer Michael Betteridge the Collective looks to collaborate with performers and artists from a range of backgrounds to explore the impact prejudice and inequality has on society, predominantly on women and LGBTQ+ people. Their first work, #echochamber, with writer-director Ingunn Lara Kristjansdottir and co-produced with Folk Opera Iceland, premiered at Tjarnarbio in Reykjavik, Iceland in May 2018 to great acclaim before touring to the UK in summer of the same year.
#echochamber
When Justie sends a misguided tweet she employs her colleague Talon to try and fix the mounting backlash on social media. Meanwhile his wife Finna, a famous lifestyle vlogger, begins an online affair with recluse Freyja. #echochamber explores how we 'make mistakes' online inspired by Jon Ronson's book 'So You've Been Publicly Shamed'. This Anglo-Icelandic opera invites audiences to tweet their 'deepest, darkest secrets' onto a live twitter feed as we contemplate: "where do we live nowadays? On or offline?"
#echochamber was developed over a two year period with seed funding from Arts Council England's Artists' International Development Fund. Co-produced with Folk Opera Iceland, and with further funding from Rannis (Arts Council Iceland) and Reykjavikuborg (City of Reykjavik), as well as support from Icelandic Opera, the opera opened at Tjarnarbio - the country's leading independent theatre - in May 2018. A UK tour followed in summer of the same year with performances in Hull, Manchester and London.
To buy tickets, or for more information about the tour, please scroll down.
#echochamber was developed over a two year period with seed funding from Arts Council England's Artists' International Development Fund. Co-produced with Folk Opera Iceland, and with further funding from Rannis (Arts Council Iceland) and Reykjavikuborg (City of Reykjavik), as well as support from Icelandic Opera, the opera opened at Tjarnarbio - the country's leading independent theatre - in May 2018. A UK tour followed in summer of the same year with performances in Hull, Manchester and London.
To buy tickets, or for more information about the tour, please scroll down.
Get tickets for #echochamber
UK Tour - Hull, Manchester & London
Workshop of #echochamber at Harpa Concert Hall and Conference Centre in collaboration with Icelandic Opera in June 2017
Meet the team
Writer-director
Ingunn Lara Kristjansdottir
Ingunn Lára is an Icelandic writer, playwright, librettist and director.
She has a Bachelors degree in American Theatre Arts from Rose Bruford College and is currently a masters student of Creative Writing at the University of Iceland.
Her first full length play, Toward the Unknown was produced by Old Sole Theatre Company at the London theatre workshop in Fullham in 2014. She is part of the feminist theatre group, The Völvas, and co-wrote and directed The Vagina Dialogues, which performed 2016 and 2017 at Vaults Festival and Edinburgh Fringe festival. She was comissioned by Halaleikhópurinn in 2016, an Icelandic theatre company comprised of disabled performers and directors. Ingunn is a member of the writer's union of Iceland.
She has a Bachelors degree in American Theatre Arts from Rose Bruford College and is currently a masters student of Creative Writing at the University of Iceland.
Her first full length play, Toward the Unknown was produced by Old Sole Theatre Company at the London theatre workshop in Fullham in 2014. She is part of the feminist theatre group, The Völvas, and co-wrote and directed The Vagina Dialogues, which performed 2016 and 2017 at Vaults Festival and Edinburgh Fringe festival. She was comissioned by Halaleikhópurinn in 2016, an Icelandic theatre company comprised of disabled performers and directors. Ingunn is a member of the writer's union of Iceland.
Co-artistic director (singer and producer)
Rosie Middleton
Mezzo-soprano Rosie Middleton combines a career in opera with a passion for contemporary music. Recent performances include Alice's Adventures in Wonderland at the Royal Opera House Linbury Theatre, Rose/Lakme (Opera Holland Park), A Certain Sense of Order (Tete a Tete Festival), Berio Sequenza III (Trinity College Cambridge) and Third Lady/The Magic Flute, (Soho Theatre). She has recently been selected for a scholarship attend the (Re)evolution: Resonant Bodies residency at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity this summer.
Workshop of #echochamber at Harpa Concert Hall and Conference Centre in collaboration with Icelandic Opera in June 2017
What did we find out?
#echochamber evaluation
With support from Arts Council England we were able to undertake a thorough and targeted evaluation of our UK tour of #echochamber with support of Ed Moss of BridgingTheGap. You can read it here.
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With thanks to...
The Aequitas Collective is grateful to all its partners and funders
