ENO offers Carmen secrets online

The website will follow production until the show opens in September

The English National Opera is to allow unprecedented backstage access to its latest production of Carmen through an experimental web project.

ENO Interactive will host video footage of the auditions and rehearsals, along with production diaries, interviews and downloads of songs from the show.

Users can ask questions and write reviews, and the site will collate related content from around the web.

ENO hopes the site will engage people who do not usually go to the opera.

Carmen is being directed by film-maker Sally Potter, who is keeping a blog of her experiences as the show comes together.

Potter will also post ideas about the show into an "open space" where users can respond with their own suggestions, thoughts and pictures.

You don't often get to see behind-the-scenes build-up to a performance John Berry ENO artistic director

The ENO's artistic director John Berry is also keeping an online diary, and content from buzzworthy sites like YouTube and Facebook will be incorporated into an interactive timeline charting the progress of the production.

"Audiences generally come in and see the finished article - what they don't see is that pain you have to go through to give birth to these productions," Berry said.

"That's what's so fascinating about it. You don't often get to see behind-the-scenes build-up to a performance."

Berry admitted the website, including his blog, was a leap into "unknown territory". But he said the "ultimate goal" was to bring people into the theatre.

"We want people to engage in the wider debate about the ENO and opera in general," he added.

The site launches on Tuesday, although not all the features will be available immediately.

The opera house plans to expand the project to cover other productions in the future.

Carmen opens at the ENO's home, the London Coliseum, on 29 September.