Hucknall's Arc Cinema to show live opera from New York starting on Saturday

The Arc Cinema in Hucknall will be broadcasting a series of live opera performances in HD over the coming months from The Metropolitan Opera Company based in New York.

The first opera will be Boris Godunov which will be shown this Saturday (9 October) at 5:55pm. Conductor Sebastian Weigle leads this performance of Modest Mussorgsky's work in its original 1869 version. Bass René Pape reprises his overwhelming portrayal of the tortured tsar caught between grasping ambition and crippling paranoia.

Tickets are priced at £17.95 for adults and £16.95 for seniors. The reason that it costs more than a standard cinema ticket is due to the state of the art equipment and technology needed to be able to show the live production from New York.

Speaking exclusively to Hucknall Nub News, cinema manager Mark Gallagher said: "I think Covid has encouraged cinemas up and down the country and probably the world over to try and figure out the different ways of utilising the space that they've got and the technology they've got. We've got a big screen, lots of seats, what else can we do other than show the latest blockbusters? So that's what we're doing.

"Live events are brilliant; I know cinemas have been doing them a while now but obviously we've only just opened so this is our first one and if it's a success we'll probably be doing loads. We have only got the satellite linked up to one screen unfortunately so when they do sell out there's no way of putting on another one, that's the downside but if it is a huge success there's no reason why we couldn't then get it linked up to another screen maybe.

"We like to think we're bringing a bit of culture to Hucknall, broadening people's horizons if it's not something that people would ordinarily have gone to, an opera, maybe they'll come to watch one here out of interest and if they like it who knows they might be going down to London to watch one in person."

To book tickets for Saturday's live showing of the opera see here . For further information about future operas and other live broadcasts, known as Culture Club events, being shown in the cinema see here .