Gale Edwards, who directed the 2013 Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour (HOSH) production of Carmen for Opera Australia, and designers Brian Thomson (set) and Julie Lynch (costumes) have issued a press statement criticising Opera Australia for refusing to invite them back to oversee the current remount of the production, which opens on Friday.

^{Carmen, Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour. Photograph © James Morgan}

It is highly unusual for a creative team to issue a statement of this kind, particularly in the world of opera where revivals are more often than not restaged by an on-staff revival director. “It is beyond our comprehension how any professional company or artistic director would exclude the core creatives in such an important revival,” they said.

This is the first time that a HOSH production has been revived (read the 2013 Limelight review here). The original choreographer Kelley Abbey has been brought back to work with the two new alternating casts.

The full statement from Edwards, Lynch and Thomson reads:

“In 2013, between the three of us, we conceived, directed and designed Opera Australia’s Handa Opera production of Carmen on Sydney Harbour.

This Friday March 24, Opera Australia will...