Buxton International Festival: Shorts at Pavilion Arts Centre

Kristy Stott, Theatre Editor

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Buxton International Festival: Shorts

13-25 July 2025
Date
Time
Session Features
13 Jul 2025
7:15 pm-9:15 pm
15 Jul 2025
7:15 pm-9:15 pm
18 Jul 2025
7:10 pm-9:15 pm
21 Jul 2025
7:15 pm-9:15 pm
25 Jul 2025
7:15 pm-9:15 pm

See website for more sessions

Always double check opening hours with the venue before making a special visit.

Four portraits side by side with the word Shorts across the centre:  A black woman staring up to the sunrise.  A couple in an embrace.  The woman looking to the camera, emotionless and the man with eyes closed.   A man in flamboyant costume looks straight in to the camera, dancing.  A man with his head in his hands, looking at something off to the side.
Image courtesy of Richard Lakos/ Buxton International Festival.
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This summer, Buxton International Festival rips up the operatic rulebook with Shorts, a punchy programme of four brand-new 20-minute performances designed to challenge, provoke and reimagine opera for a new age.

Running this July at Buxton’s Pavilion Arts Centre, Shorts brings together an extraordinary mix of creative voices – spanning jazz, folk, classical and contemporary theatre – for a series of stories that speak directly to our times. If you thought opera was all grand gowns, tragic heroines and three-hour runtimes, think again – this is opera with bite.

A man, drenched in green light has his head in his hands and looks beyond the camera.
Image courtesy of Richard Lakos.

Manchester-based composer Carmel Smickersgill and Sunday Times award-winning playwright Josh Overton present Inevitable, a darkly comic take on existential dread. In a crumbling office beneath the doomsday clock, three generations crank a mechanism that keeps the world going – until doubt creeps in. Expect bleak humour and emotional punch as the clock ticks on.

Life Gets Stretched, by BBC Folk Award-winner Martin Green, tells a bittersweet wartime love story through physical theatre, a swirling folk-influenced score and an ‘invented’ language that taps into something universal. It’s a poignant meditation on change, connection, and the long arc of love.

A man and woman drenched in blue light embrace. The woman looks to the camera, emotionless. The man has his eyes closed.
Image courtesy of Richard Lakos.

LGBTQ+ history takes centre stage in Disorderly House. Inspired by the 1927 arrest of dancer Bobby Britt after a bohemian party in London’s Fitzroy Square, it celebrates queer trailblazers who might otherwise be forgotten. Full of vintage glamour, the opera is performed in English and Polari, a once-hidden language spoken by gay men in Britain.

Buxton International Festival: Shorts at Pavilion Arts Centre. Pink lighting washes over a man, in flamboyant dress, looking and pointing at the camera; dancing.
Image courtesy of Richard Lakos.

And finally, Tears Are Not Meant to Stay Inside offers something richly atmospheric. With music by jazz and gospel artist Thandanani Gumede and words by acclaimed playwright Zodwa Nyoni (Liberation, Royal Exchange Theatre/ MIF), it asks whether we can still connect with ancestral memory in a modern world. Sung in Zulu and Ndebele, this spiritually-charged opera promises to be both joyful and deeply moving.

A woman of Black African heritage is drenched in yellow light.  She looks up and away from the camera as if to a sunrise.
Image courtesy of Richard Lakos.

With direction from Marcus Desando and Rebecca Melzer, and design by Eliott Squire, Shorts is a rare chance to see opera stripped back, reimagined and bursting with new energy. For seasoned opera lovers, it’s a fresh fix; for newcomers, it’s the perfect gateway to the genre. With tickets from just £10, there’s never been a better excuse to dip your toe into the world of opera.

 

Where to go near Buxton International Festival: Shorts at Pavilion Arts Centre

Discover Buxton Tours Ticket Office
Buxton
Tourist Attraction
Discover Buxton Tours Ticket Office

Take a journey through the fascinating history of Buxton, whether on foot or aboard the vintage tram. The team of knowledgeable guides are all local people with a real passion for the town. Discover Buxton Tours offer the best way to see and experience a town’s history.

The Pavilion Gardens, which also houses the Pavilion Arts Centre, is a beautiful, historic venue dating back to 1871 which superbly shows off the Victorian splendour of Buxton. Set within twenty three acres of magnificent, landscaped gardens and play areas, the venue provides the perfect setting for fun and relaxing family days out, with great food and drink, shopping and over 100 events and festivals throughout the year.
Buxton
Event venue
Pavilion Gardens in Buxton

The award-winning Pavilion Gardens in Buxton harks back to the great golden era of Victorian public parks, when such amenities were taken seriously.

Buxton
Simply Thai Restaurant

The restaurant is currently open every day for takeaway with 10% discount when ordered form the main menu on collection and free evening delivery (without discount) within 2 miles radius for minimum order of £30.

RedWillow Buxton
Buxton
Restaurant
RedWillow Buxton

Located in an elegantly remodelled Edwardian bank in the heart of the town, the Red Willow is one of our favourite watering holes in Buxton.

Event venue
Earth Pig Pottery and Fine Art

Earth Pig is a working art studio and pottery located in Higher Buxton in the heart of the Peak District National Park.

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