thebelfastensemble

The Belfast Ensemble are currently casting opera singers for our Autumn 2025 development project: Dublin Jack. 

This is our first project made and developed outside Belfast, so we’re keen to connect with new voices to expand our network of Irish collaborators. 

Dublin Jack is a new queer opera exploring the life and legacy of the infamous Jack Saul, an Irish rent boy living in London during the late Victorian period.  

Jack’s prolific commitment to his work, exuberant lack of discretion, and aristocratic clientele eventually led to his arrest and trial - sparking a moral panic throughout London that subsequently prompted further arrests of visibly gay men - including his countryman, Oscar Wilde.

In this scandalous new opera, Conor Mitchell & The Belfast Ensemble interrogate the structural interconnectivity between colonialism, commercialised copulation, and queerness.

Casting Session: 22 July 2025, RIAM, Dublin.
Project Dates: 29 Sept - 09 Oct AND 10 Nov - 14 Nov 2025

For full details on roles and the submission process, please download the below casting brief.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Dublin Jack is funded by The Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealaíon, Arts Council Northern Ireland, Belfast City Council, The Vaughan Williams Foundation, and The John Ellerman Foundation, with support from The Southbank Centre, and Outburst Queer Arts Festival.