Hedge fund boss ‘controlled wife’s life and attacked her’
Musicals bring crossover audiences to opera, says ENO chief as he reveals new season
ENGLISH National Opera’s artistic director has defended renting out its home at the London Coliseum for musicals — saying it encourages audiences to return and watch opera.
The St Martin’s Lane venue is currently home to a production of Carousel starring Alfie Boe and Katherine Jenkins and last year staged the revival A HUSBAND who ran a hedge fund with his wife “systematically bullied her to control her life”, a court heard.
Former Deutsche Bank derivatives expert Guy Mitchinson, 38, is accused of subjecting Alicia Vidler, 37, to assaults which escalated in violence over a seven-month period.
He allegedly told Ms Vidler to travel by plane to attend meetings for their Mayfair-based hedge fund Castilium Capital despite debilitating arthritis that often forced her to use a wheelchair. He also forced her to take medication which had severe side-effects, Isleworth crown court heard.
Ms Vidler told the jury: “He’d tell me before business meetings, ‘You’re going to have to get through this, you’re probably going to be crippled for life so you have to make this work.’
“Guy did not like me being seen with crutches or a walking stick and I’d leave them at reception. Flying makes it much worse, it’s very painful on the plane.”
Caroline Paul, prosecuting, said: “This trial is about a man systematically bullying his wife in order to control her. He sought to control her whole life, her work, her sleep pattern, her social life.
“His wife became his virtual prisoner and he began to interfere with her medical care, forcing her into taking a course of medication when the sideeffects were severe. He wanted her to of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Sunset Boulevard with Glenn Close.
Daniel Kramer spoke out as he revealed the company’s new season, which includes plans to tap in to the success of Poldark.
He said research showed some of the first-time visitors who came to see Close returned to watch another more traditional ENO show.
He said: “The return rate from Sunset put more hours into the business when she was sick and in a wheelchair and to travel abroad when unwell.
“He insisted on knowing her precise movements and would call her three to four times an hour to check in on her and insisted knowing all the passwords to her electronic devices.”
Ms Vidler was an equity derivatives trader with Deutsche Bank in Sydney before moving to the UK, where she studied for a PhD in mathematics at Imperial College.
She worked for Merrill Lynch before the couple launched their own investment vehicle in 2012.
Ms Paul said Mitchinson’s violent behaviour escalated and he attacked her three times at their £3.4 million Boulevard was absolutely incredible. Carousel will attract that this year.
“We are really just starting to track this but we absolutely know those pieces help engender a crossover.”
He said the “long-term goal” was to take audiences from the mainstream musicals over to some of ENO’s more challenging modern work such as last year’s Lulu.
ENO’s new 2017/18 season mixes home in central London. She said: “He would grab her wrists and ankles, causing great pain due to her arthritis. He would rip pillows and duvets away when she was trying to rest to cause her pain and to prevent her sleeping.”
During one row she tried to leave, the jury was told. “Mr Mitchinson slammed the door with such force the handle detached and she was fearful and afraid for her safety,” Ms Paul said.
“He pulled her back by her handbag strap, blocked the doorway and slammed her against the wall and repeatedly kicked her in the legs, causing bruising to her elbows and knees.”
Ms Vidler said the attack only halted when her husband was overcome with emotion.
“He broke down and threatened to kill himself,” said Ms Paul.
Ms Vidler told her GP about another alleged assault in July last year, and Mitchinson was arrested and questioned.
Mitchinson claims the allegations have been invented as a way for his wife to get out of the marriage and business partnership.
He has pleaded not guilty to one count of controlling or coercive behaviour between January 1 and July 23 last year. He also denies three counts of assaulting Ms Vidler at their home address on dates between January 10 and July 16.
The trial continues. revivals of classics such as La Traviata alongside new work including Marnie, based on Poldark novelist Winston Graham’s thriller which inspired a 1964 Alfred Hitchcock film of that name.
Kramer also revealed plans for Lesley Garrett to star in “a raw portrayal” of the Jack the Ripper murders in the 2018/19 season. The singer will play one of the victims of the killer who stalked the East End in the late 19th century.