Rory Bremner is well-known as one of the leading comedians and impressionists, but is also an accomplished translator of opera librettos.

This down-to-earth and gritty new translation of Carmen was commissioned by Broomhill Opera for their ground-breaking production in 2001.

This libretto can be used with any of the currently available range of Carmen vocal score editions as an alternative English text. It should be easy to accommodate the slight variations in scene numbers found in other editions; the sung recitatives by Guiraud found in some versions are here replaced by spoken dialogue.

The text has been marked where necessary to show how differing syllabic patterns between the original French and English should be accommodated, using the symbols outlined in the libretto.