Short Operas by Ailis Ni Riain are performed in Manchester on 21-22 August

The Manchester-based Sawn-off Opera company will perform three of Ailís Ní Ríain's operas, with libretto by David Gaffney, as part of the Tête à Tête opera festival at the Riverside Studios, Hammersmith, London at 4pm on 21 and 22 August 2010.

We Know We Got Soul is about a body double and a Saville Row Tailor who bond over their mutual love of Edward Scissorhands.
Are Friends Electric? examines the use of multiple social networks such as Twitter, Bebo, Facebook, and asks if we have too many electric friends. The People With Complicated Shoes features a Northern politician called ‘Hazel’ with a shoe fetish, a resentful journalist and a man who’ll break any rules.

Sawn-off Opera is a new small-scale opera company based in Manchester specialising in new mini-operas. They have performed at Liverpool Philharmonic Hall, the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester, the Royal Northern College of Music, the Cosmo Rodewald Concert Hall, BBC Studio 7 in Manchester and on The Verb on BBC Radio 3. BBC Radio 3′s The Verb commissioned our first opera, We Know We Got Soul, and this was performed live on the show. They have received funding from the BBC, Arts Council England and the Arts Council of Ireland. Their work has been described as fresh, humorous, exciting, lively and bizarre.

Further details and booking is available from the Tête à Tête web site.