18–21 August 2026

Battersea Arts Centre
Lavender Hill
London
SW11 5TN

A shady figure offers to upgrade your life overnight, do you trust him?

For Tom Rakewell it’s an easy yes. And he starts a new life in the seediest corners of London where there’s only one rule – endless pleasure with zero consequences. But as his debts, and the fiancé he left behind, catch up with him he realises that life is never that simple.

Stravinsky’s dark comic opera paints a world where ‘living life to the full’ comes at a cost. Experience it brought to life by BYO – a unique programme that puts a full-scale production into the hands of some of the UK’s brightest and most exciting young creatives and performers.


Created entirely by participants on BYO’s summer programme:

Conducted by Oliver Cope
Directed by Tom Deazley
Set and costume design by Alexandra Kay

18 & 20 August

Tom Rakewell Sam Rose
Anne Trulove Sophie Bysouth
Nick Shadow Sam Young
Baba Rhian Davies
Trulove Joshua McCullough
Sellem Matthew Bawden
Mother Goose Donya Rafati
Keeper Gabriel Tufail Smith

19 & 21 August

Tom Rakewell Thomas Hawkey-Soar
Anne Trulove Ronnie Enoch
Nick Shadow Edward Wenborn
Baba Naomi Boot
Trulove Gabriel Tufail Smith
Sellem Ethan Jacobs
Mother Goose Holly Putt
Keeper
Joshua McCullough

Chorus

Sophie Akka
Oluwatimilehin Bimbo-Adeola
Faye Bowness
Oscar Bowen-Hill
Isobel Hughes
Mairi McGillivray
Theo Moolenaar
Chris Murphy
Aaron Peters
Esther Shea
Ellen Smith

Haonan Wang opera directing programme (collaborator)
Daisie Sitlani opera directing programme (collaborator)

Emily Singh music staff programme (collaborator / assistant conductor)
Arianna Congedi music staff programme (collaborator / repetiteur)
Daniel Chappell music staff programme (collaborator / repetiteur)

Emma Chandler stage management programme
Sarah Slee stage management programme
Harri Compton stage management programme
Maddie Myers stage management programme