Featuring a classic opera that mixes tragedy, romance and despair, the latest performance in a long-running local opera festival takes place this weekend.

The 36th annual Mananan Opera opens at the Erin Art Centre for two performances of the classic Italian opera, Puccini’s ’La Boheme’, on Friday and Saturday, September 13 and 14, from 7.30pm.

This is the third time the Mananan Opera, which prides itself as being the only chance to see live opera performed in the island, will have staged ’La Boheme’.

This year, the cast will be led by a host of UK performers, many of whom being familiar faces at the Mananan Opera, having appeared in many of the previous productions.

Yorkshire tenor Alex Grainger plays the lead role of Rodolfo, alongside the lead female role, Mimi, played by Jenny Stafford.

Jenny is a rising star in the UK opera scene, having only made her major stage debut last year.

She has been described as possessing a ’lyric soprano voice of immense beauty, and a modern, pragmatic sincerity’ by theatre critics, and has performed at the Royal Albert Hall, the Old Vic and for the Dutch National Opera.

Alex is making his first appearance since 2016, where he sang the role of Gastone for ’La Triviata’.

They will be joined by Neil Balfour, who performed in last year’s production of ’Donizetti’.

This performance spells the start of a busy period for Neil as, after he finishes in the Isle of Man, he is to travel to Sicily to join up with the Doer Male Voice choir as a soloist, before heading back to the UK to perform in a contemporary re-telling of Dorian Gray.

Fleur de Bray also returns to the island as Norina.

Two other performers making their island debuts are David Cane, a former chorister from Leicester, who is singing the role of Marcello, and baritone Peter Edge, who will sing as Schaunard.

They will be joined by a host of familiar faces, such as local singers, including this year’s Cleveland medal winner Matt Quinn, who plays the role of Alcindoro, Paul Costain, who appears as Benoit and Mike Trout and Adrienne Sanderson as a pair of waiters.

The play is once again directed by Stefan Janski, a multi-award winning theatre director who has been at the helm of each of Mananan Opera production since 2000, and the music is headed up by pianist Ian Tindale .

Tickets are priced at £22 each, and £2 for under 18s, available from the Erin Arts Centre box office, on 832662.