A Feast in the Time of Plague is a 2020 opera by Alex Woolf to a libretto by David Pountney, loosely based on the "little tragedy" of the same name by Alexander Pushkin.^[1]

The opera was commissioned by Grange Park Opera during the COVID-19 pandemic. Pountney described how he came to write the libretto whilst in lockdown in Wales

I responded to Pushkin’s little fragment by creating 12 – because of the Last Supper – very varied characters who arrive voluntarily and most of whom depart involuntarily – i.e. they die. In between they capture the defiance and solidarity that we have all experienced during these strange times. The virus exposes truths about all of us in surprising ways. A Feast in the Time of Plague captures this – as well as the essential lesson that we must carry on laughing.^[1]

The 25-year old Woolf wrote the music in six weeks.^[1] The premiere performance took place at Grange Park Opera on 12 September 2020, accompanied by the composer playing piano in the wings.^[2]

The opera is in two sections, Arrivals and Departures. "Twelve archetypes – from cook to policeman to dewy newlyweds – gather for a last supper, each offering their own thoughts on risk, life and death."^[2]

The critic of The Guardian commented that it could benefit from longer-term reconsideration and rewriting, but in the meantime "enjoy it as it is: a coup, achieved in an instant with flair, hard work and brilliant team spirit."^[2] Rupert Christiansen, writing in the Daily Telegraph, gave the opera four stars (out of five), describing it as "intriguing [and] fabulously performed."^[3] The reviewer for The Stage noted that "[e]veryone gets his or her turn, and if some of the individual numbers go on too long – the parody pastiches would make greater impact if shorter – there’s certainly a huge amount of talent on stage."^[4]

The production was filmed and can be viewed on YouTube^[5]