The sprightly double bill of Scottish Opera’s new staging of Gilbert & Sullivan’s Trial by Jury and the world premiere of Emma Jenkins and Toby Hession’s A Matter of Misconduct! will be available to watch on OperaVision from 3 August for six months.
The production opened in May at Theatre Royal Glasgow, before touring to Festival Theatre Edinburgh and Opera Holland Park, with Trial by Jury directed by John Savournin, and A Matter of Misconduct! directed by Laura Attridge. Both operas are conducted by Toby Hession, and designs are by takis.
The film of the double bill was produced for the freeview streaming platform OperaVision by Gemma Dixon of Maestro Broadcasting, who also directed the A Matter of Misconduct! film, with Jonathan Haswell directing the film of Trial by Jury. Audio production was by Floating Earth Ltd., and the recording was made at a Festival Theatre Edinburgh performance.
First performed in 1875, Trial by Jury (a co-production by Scottish Opera, D’Oyly Carte Opera and Opera Holland Park), was the first major hit from the partnership of WS Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan. Set around a classic case of broken vows – the defendant having literally left the claimant at the altar – the trial bubbles over with emotion, humour, and downright chaos, leaving the jury divided. How will they decide between the charming yet swindling defendant and the utterly captivating claimant?
This production, which marks 150 years of Gilbert & Sullivan’s collaboration with D’Oyly Carte Opera, formed upon the first performance of Trial by Jury, has a fabulous comic cast which includes Richard Suart (The Gondoliers & Utopia, Limited 2021), Jamie MacDougall (Albert Herring 2024) and 2024/25 Emerging Artists Kira Kaplan (Opera Highlights 2025), Chloe Harris (Opera Highlights 2025) and Edward Jowle (The Makropulos Affair 2025).
It is performed alongside Emma Jenkins and Toby Hession’s A Matter of Misconduct!, a new co-commission and co-production by Scottish Opera and D’Oyly Carte Opera.
Following the crowd-pleasing political satire In Flagrante, also by Jenkins and Hession, which premiered on the 2023/24 Opera Highlights tour, A Matter of Misconduct! tells the story of how when a scandal threatens to break about the front runner in a bloody leadership campaign, a lawyer is needed to prevent information from reaching the press. Sylvia Lawless from the firm Lawless, Lawless, Lawless and Crook must find the loopholes in this modern take on unsavoury behaviour.
Jamie MacDougall stars in this daring new operetta, alongside 2024/25 Emerging Artists Ross Cumming, Kira Kaplan, Chloe Harris and Edward Jowle.
Launched in 2017, OperaVision – curated by Opera Europa, the European association of opera companies and festivals – streams performances from all over the world, allowing viewers to watch productions from the greatest European opera houses from the comfort of their own home. As well as full-length performances shown with subtitles, it features extracts, interviews and behind the scenes footage.
Scottish Opera General Director Alex Reedijk said: ‘We are absolutely thrilled that our film of Trial by Jury & A Matter of Misconduct! will reach global audiences through OperaVision this summer.
‘We hope viewers all over the world enjoy this brilliant double bill, and it’s a great opportunity to share the exceptional artistry of Toby Hession and Emma Jenkins, and directors John Savournin and Laura Attridge, as well as the talented cast and The Orchestra of Scottish Opera.’
In 2019, in a very important first for Scottish Opera, Stuart MacRae and Louise Welsh’s Anthropocene was featured on the platform, followed in 2023 by the Company’s production of another Gilbert & Sullivan classic, The Gondoliers.
It has been watched more than anything else since Christmas 2023, amassing almost 70,000 views to date.Audiences praised the production calling it ‘magnificent’, ‘truly first rate’ and ‘superb’.
Karen Stone, Opera Europa Executive Director said:‘Scottish Opera is respected internationally for the quality of its productions, its commitment to creating new work and its dedication to serving many communities across Scotland.
“I am delighted that the double-bill of Trial by Jury & A Matter of Misconduct! will find new audiences across the world through Opera Europa’s streaming platform. “We look forward to Scottish Opera becoming a more regular contributor to OperaVision, which showcases all the vibrancy of opera-making in Europe today.’
Executive Producer Gemma Dixon said: ‘Producing the fabulous Trial by Jury & A Matter of Misconduct! double bill for streaming on OperaVision was a real joy.
‘Our job is always to cherish a production and tell the story through the lens, matching the quality of what we see on stage with what we put on the screen.
“The beauty of our work is in capturing the extra details, the story beats, reactions and facial expressions that can be missed in the auditorium when watching from a distance, and they are in abundance here! The quality of both productions and the superb cast and production teams made the job easy for us.
‘Although both productions are brilliant on screen, A Matter of Misconduct! was particularly fun to direct because of the level of detail in the musical score, the witty libretto and the close interplay between the score, libretto and action. I’ve tried to highlight these moments and replicate the energy and comedy of the production in the choice of framing and the timing of camera shots.’
Trial by Jury & A Matter of Misconduct! are available to watch from 6pm BST (7pm CET) on 3 August at https://operavision.eu/en
Trial by Jury is supported by the Michael Bishop Foundation, Lord Glendonbrook and the D’Oyly Carte Charitable Trust.
A Matter of Misconduct! is supported by Scottish Opera’s New Commissions Circle.
Trial by Jury creative team and cast
Conductor Toby Hession
Director John Savournin
Choreographer Kally Lloyd-Jones
Designer takis
Lighting designer Ben Pickersgill
The Learned Judge Richard Suart
The Plaintiff Kira Kaplan*
The Defendant Jamie MacDougall
Counsel for The Plaintiff Chloe Harris*
Usher Edward Jowle*
A Matter of Misconduct! creative team and cast
Conductor Toby Hession
Director Laura Attridge
Designer takis
Lighting designer Ben Pickersgill
Roger Penistone Ross Cumming*
Sandy Hogg Jamie MacDougall
Cherry Penistone Chloe Harris*
Sylvia Lawless Kira Kaplan*
Hugo Cheeseman Edward Jowle*
*Scottish Opera Emerging Artist 2024/25
