Yann completed the set design for the New Sussex Opera production of Hugh the Drover by Vaughan Williams.  A charming opera composed by Williams before the first world war and rarely performed on the stage. The story is set in a small town in quaint, rural England during the Napoleonic wars, it is a heart-warming romantic tale accompanied by folk-song melodies.

The opera was directed by Michael Moxham and beautifully costumed by Giulia Scrimieri. NSO performed the opera in venues in Sussex, Kent and London in November 2010 with the production received warmly by critics with four stars in both The Guardian and The Financial Times.

Highlights from the Reviews

"Yann Seabra’s accessible design favours simple wooden forms, while signalling the lure of a freer natural world beyond rigid communal boundaries. The key props are a gibbet and the village stocks." David Gutman in The Stage.

"Yann Seabra’s set gives us effective waving corn, a scaffold and a church signified by a swinging gallows-symbol cross." Melvyn Walmsley in The Independent

"New Sussex Opera is currently touring an engaging and intimate production of this underperformed masterpiece, taking it to a variety of institutions from theatres to concert halls. To accommodate this wide range of venues, designer Yann Seabra’s set is relatively simple, with all the scene changes manipulated smoothly by chorus members, and this matches Vaughan Williams’ folk-song style, and is also beautifully complemented by Giulia Scrimieri’s charming costume designs." Lottie Greenhow in Music OMH

Set

"Yann Seabra’s accessible design favours simple wooden forms, while signalling the lure of a freer natural world beyond rigid communal boundaries. The key props are a gibbet and the village stocks." David Gutman in The Stage.

"Yann Seabra’s set gives us effective waving corn, a scaffold and a church signified by a swinging gallows-symbol cross." Melvyn Walmsley in The Independent

"New Sussex Opera is currently touring an engaging and intimate production of this underperformed masterpiece, taking it to a variety of institutions from theatres to concert halls. To accommodate this wide range of venues, designer Yann Seabra’s set is relatively simple, with all the scene changes manipulated smoothly by chorus members, and this matches Vaughan Williams’ folk-song style, and is also beautifully complemented by Giulia Scrimieri’s charming costume designs." Lottie Greenhow in Music OMH