Charles Workman Acting Showreel

While I enjoy a fulfilling career as an opera singer, my first love was acting and I have often longed for the opportunity to perform again as an actor (in film, television or on stage), so I have created an acting showreel taken from video recordings of my some of my opera performances.

Although these are all live, staged performances (and as such required “bigger” acting than called for in film or television), I believe these clips can give casting agencies and directors an idea of my range as an actor, as well as my physical presence.

This showreel contains clips from seven different performances. As they are sung in several different languages (and only some have English titles), I have given a short explanation of each scene along with time stamps (below).

If you wish to know more about my operatic career, please visit my official website:
https://charlesworkman.wixsite.com/charles...

1. 0:00 Tito in Mozart’s La Clemenza di Tito (Act 2)
Tito, the Emperor of Rome, has been informed that his best friend Sesto is the culprit of an attempt on his life. After the initial shock he struggles with the thought that he must now condemn his friend to death, but first he wishes to question Sesto himself, and as he waits for Sesto to be brought to him he longs for the simple life of a lowly peasant, someone who never has to endure political intrigue.
Performance from Polish National Opera, Warsaw (January 2016)
Director……….Ivo van Hove
Conductor…….Benjamin Bayl

2. 2:19 Malatestino in Zandonai’s Francesca da Rimini (Act 2)
Malatestino dall’Occhio, the hot-headed youngest brother of a noble family (and who lost an eye when wounded in battle), knows that Francesca, the wife of his oldest brother, is having an affair with their middle brother. He believes he can blackmail Francesca into sleeping with him, during which time screams are heard from the dungeon where his men are torturing a prisoner. When Francesca complains about having to hear the prisoner’s cries, Malatestino says he will silence him for her sake, and leaves to execute the prisoner.
Performance from Deutsche Oper Berlin (March 2021)
Director…………Christof Loy
Conductor………Carlo Rizzi
Francesca………Sara Jakubiak

3. 6:27 Alviano in Schreker's Die Gezeichneten (final scene)
The Genoan nobleman Alviano Salvago, hunchbacked and deformed, had thought he would never know love until the beautiful noblewoman Carlotta Nardi professed her love for his soul while painting his portrait. Unfortunately she is a free spirit and is seduced by the licentious Count Tamare, which leads to her untimely death and Alviano’s murder of Tamare. After the murder Alviano loses his senses, believing he is the deformed jester who, in a story told earlier by Tamare, was savagely beaten to death with his own violin.
Performance from Opéra National de Lyon (March 2015)
Director…………David Boesch
Conductor………Alejo Perez

4. 9:01 Hoffmann in Offenbach's Les contes d'Hoffmann (Act 1)
While telling the story of Kleinzach (a disfigured dwarf and source of ridicule), the poet Hoffmann suddenly falls into a revery about one of his former loves, remembering how madly he pursued her and their passionate time together. He is broken from the revery to complete the story, describing how, when drunk, Kleinzach would walk about with his coat-tails flapping.
Performance from Israeli Opera, Tel Aviv (November 2022)
Director…………Stefano Poda
Conductor………Dan Ettinger

5. 13:00 Ulisse in Monteverdi’s Il ritorno di Ulisse in patria (Act 1)
After 20 years of being lost at sea following the Trojan War, Ulisse awakens upon a shore after a storm that has wrecked his ship and killed his shipmates (the soldiers, who have been turned to stone by Neptune). Unaware that he has finally reached his homeland of Crete, he laments his fate as the gods look on from above.
Performance from Maggio Musicale Fiorentino (June 2021)
Director………….Robert Carsen
Conductor………Ottavio Dantone

6. 15:42 Jupiter in Handel’s Semele (Act 2)
The god Jupiter has seduced and abducted Semele, a mortal. Semele has begun to grow weary of her condition and hints at a desire to be made a goddess. In an attempt to placate her, Jupiter arranges for her sister to come and keep her company and promises that, even as a mortal, her life with him will always be filled with comfort and pleasure.
Performance from Opernhaus Zürich (January 2007)
Director…………Robert Carsen
Conductor………William Christie
Semele………….Cecilia Bartoli

7. 19:29 Skuratov in Janáček’s From the House of the Dead (Act 2)
The opera takes place in a Siberian prison camp. Skuratov, who has gone mad, tells the story of how he came to be imprisoned: in Moscow he had fallen in love with Luisa, a German girl, but when he learned she was to be married to an older, pompous, relative, Skuratov confronted him and after much provocation shot him dead.
Performance from Munich Bayerische Staatsoper (May 2018)
Director…………Frank Castorf
Conductor………Simone Young