This weekend, the Royal Opera House launches its Family Sundays programme – welcoming children, their parents and carers into the building for a packed day of activities. In recognition of the NHS’s tireless work over the course of the pandemic, tickets for the first event are half-price for doctors, nurses, porters and other healthcare support workers.

Fabulous Creatures, our inaugural Family Sunday, will take place on Sunday 12 September. Running across two sessions, one in the morning and one in the afternoon, it will offer a range of activities led by ROH staff, artists and partner companies – all designed to suit families with children aged between three and 10. Visitors can expect puppetry in the Clore Studio; Thick & Tight performances in the Paul Hamlyn Hall; a five-piece ensemble, made up of players from the Orchestra of the ROH, playing in the Linbury Foyer; craft fun in the Crush Room; as well as singing, dancing and animation workshops across the site. Tickets are discounted for NHS staff and their families, but all members of the public are more than welcome.

Two other Family Sundays are planned for the next three months: Valiant Voyages on 3 October, and Fairytales and Magic, scheduled for 28 November. Each event will be unique, with activities including a mix of live theatre-craft demonstrations, interactive opportunities, design workshops, and pop-up performances by artists of The Royal Ballet and The Royal Opera. Over 500 tickets have been made available for morning and afternoon sessions, and can be purchased via the ROH website.

The special NHS Family Sunday on 12 September forms part of the Royal Opera House’s wider #ThankYouNHS programme: a suite of events, partnerships and heavily discounted performances for NHS workers. The programme commenced in June 2021 – with Puccini’s La bohème, sung to an auditorium of specially invited staff from ROH’s nearest hospitals – and will end with a performance of Swan Lake in March 2022.

Jillian Barker, Director of Learning and Participation at the Royal Opera House, said:

‘Family Sundays are a highlight of the ROH calendar, involving all of our public spaces and designed to welcome families into the building for a creative adventure through the stories of opera and ballet. It is a real pleasure to be opening this Sunday and we are especially thrilled that NHS staff and their families will be joining us then too.’