Arena Theatre to host critically acclaimed Breaking the Rules this November

Through this collaboration project between The Telling and The Mancunium Consort, ​Clare Norburn’s acclaimed play with visceral music explores the extraordinary life of 16th/17th-century composer-prince Carlo Gesualdo.

After a childhood of privation with The Jesuits in preparation for a life in the priesthood, the unexpected death of Gesualdo’s brother leads to a sudden change of fate. Overnight, Gesualdo is now expected to produce an heir and is quickly married off to the world-wise Maria d’Avalos. Her cruel treatment of him leads inexorably to Gesualdo committing his infamous murder of Maria and her lover.

★★★★ “an exploration of the boundaries between art and life...intelligent… finds new terrain” - Arifa Akbar, The Guardian on Clare Norburn’s writing

Rising star vocal group The Mancunium Consort play Gesualdo’s consort of singers: they control the “playlist”, providing a soundtrack of Gesualdo’s deeply personal and unconventionally expressive music, including his madrigals and monumental Tenebrae Responsories. Their singing triggers memories of his past, as Gesualdo contemplates the tumultuous events that led to the murder. Now facing death and eternal damnation, the only thing that can save him is to face up to what happened that night 23 years before.​

The show originally toured in 2016-2019 with The Marian Consort and actor Gerald Kyd and received rave reviews:

★★★★ “Daring and vivid psychodrama” - Kate Molleson, The Guardian on Breaking the Rules, 2016

The show is directed by BAFTA-nominated director Nicholas Renton (Mrs Gaskells’ Wives & Daughters, Lewis, Musketeers) and will come to Arena Theatre in Wolverhampton as part of a UK tour.

For more information and tickets, visit thetelling.co.uk/events/btr-wolverhampton