Victorian Opera presents Martin Wesley-Smith and Peter Wesley-Smith’s Australian opera Boojum!, based on Lewis Carroll’s nonsensical poem The Hunting of the Snark. Starring beloved Australian artist David Hobson in a dual role as Reverend Charles Dodgson and his alter ego Lewis Carroll, the intimate season is staged at from 7 – 23 November.
Victorian Opera’s Artistic Director Stuart Maunder AM directs the production, noting:
Not quite opera,not quite musical comedy, Boojum! is an irresistible, peculiar and topsy-turvy adventure. It is at once cheeky and profound, a feather-light yet Horti Hall’s Hemstritch Studio deadly serious choral fantasia. Above all, it is a glittering love letter to the deliciously crooked imagination of Charles Dodgson.
Alongside David Hobson, the production stars Victorian Opera’s emerging artists in a kaleidoscope of recognisable characters drawn from Lewis Carroll’s stories. Their vivid world is brought to life by Set & Costume Designer Ishan Vivekanantham. The Truscott Prize Recipient most recently designed Victorian Opera’s family work, The Lyrebird’s Voice. Robert Brown lights the production, while Conductor Warwick Stengårds leads Victorian Opera Chamber Orchestra.
Lewis Carroll: The Hunting of the Snark:
But oh, beamish nephew, beware of the day; If your Snark be a Boojum! For then; You will softly and suddenly vanish away.
At first glance, Boojum! is all nonsense. But underneath the wordplay and puns, creators Martin and Peter Wesley-Smith tell a slyly moving story: the inner tug-of-war between the immortal author Carroll, and the quitter soul, Dodgson. An imagined inner landscape of daydreams, arguments and half remembered moments, the illogical structure mirrors the way an aging mind might wander, veering between fact and fancy, collapsing reality into Wonderland.
Join Victorian Opera for a rare chance to experience this curious, chaotic work in a charming new
production.
Season Details
Venue: Horti Hall, Hemstritch Studio
Date: 07 – 23 Nov 2025
For more information click HERE
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