An opportunity for Fighting With Pride veterans to visit Glyndebourne Opera House and watch the final dress rehearsal of Benjamin Britten’s opera Billy Budd. Glyndebourne is a beautiful world-class opera house in the countryside of South East England. The performance is on Thursday 25 June 2026.
The Opera
The opera is set onboard the HMS Indomitable in 1797, during the French Revolutionary Wars. Its themes speak directly to experiences of secrecy, vulnerability, injustice, and longing within an all male martial world. The themes are hard hitting. Life under suspicion, forbidden desire, innocence punished, institutional failure, and the human cost of moral compromise.
The Composer
Britten (1913-1976) was a central figure in twentieth-century classical music and lived with his partner, the tenor Peter Pears.
Watch
2 minute introduction by the director: Introducing Billy Budd
Trailer (volume up!): Billy Budd – Official trailer
About event
This event is for a small group of 8 and will be led by Gulliver Ralston from Fighting with Pride. Gulliver has backgrounds in psychotherapy and music history. In a past life he tutored in opera history for Oxford University and on the overseas programmes of Stanford University and Sarah Lawrence College.
The themes of the opera could be quite challenging, given some veterans’ personal histories. There will be a short online session before the visit to prepare for the themes of the opera, and a follow-up session afterwards to reflect together.
Practical details
- Tickets are generously provided by Glyndebourne
- Glyndebourne is in the Sussex Downs, four miles from Lewes
- The event is free (normally tickets are £30-£180)
- Veterans must arrange their own transport
- Nearest station: Lewes, with a free shuttle bus to & from the opera house
- Performance begins at 4 pm on 25 June. Interval (90 mins): 5.25pm.
- Opera resumes: 6.55pm. Opera ends: 8.15pm
- Please bring your own picnic food for the long interval.
- This activity is for veterans only.
- Tickets are by ballot using this form, click button below
