After months of preparation, Heber Opera's new production of Faust opened this week. This year's run got off to an early start with a Wednesday performance at St George's Brighton and the select audience that braved the rain gave us a warm reception. First nights are often a tricky affair as the cast and crew finally get to realise their vision for the first time and the performance space at St George's brings its own challenges. In spite of that it was a great show; the principal singers were fabulous and it was fantastic to have Veronica Brooks and Tim Crouch back performing with Heber as Faust and Margerita. Stephen Hawksley makes for a magnificent Mephistopheles and Nicholas Forrest battles evil superbly as Valentine.

On Saturday the show moved on to Lindfield which is a great little venue, full of character. The acting space is small and the entrances narrow but the crowd is always warm and welcoming. The Heber orchestral ensemble are on top form this year and Michael and Dorothy Wither's adaptation of Gounod's score gives them excellent matierial to work with.

We had our largest audience of the run so far at Hurstpierpoint on Sunday and there is nothing like a big crowd to fire up the chrorus. The whole cast worked hard to make our Second World War setting of the piece a dramatic success and the fabulous audience played their part too. With the last show of the weekend under our belts it was off to the after show party for a well earned celebration.