It’s not all over until the man in the hoodie sings, because this new opera from WNO is more Trainspotting than The Railway Children, an unrelenting take on what it means to be growing up in 21st century Britain. Sweetness and Badness has been specially written for audiences aged 14 – 17, but will be performed by five singers and six musicians from WNO’s Chorus and Orchestra under the direction of Royal Shakespeare Company director Jonathan Munby.The opera, supported by The Foyle Foundation and Arriva Trains Wales, opens in Stanwell School in Penarth, South Wales, on Tuesday 12 September then tours throughout England and Wales. There will be two public performances only at The Coliseum Theatre, Aberdare (Friday 13 October at 1pm) and the Weston Studio, Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff Bay (Wednesday 22 November at 7.15pm). At the heart of Sweetness and Badness, a love story, but along the way darker undercurrents swirl and mesh: a young woman physically abused by her lover; a school dropout traumatised by the actions of his brutal father and a nerdy wannabee so anxious for peer group approval he’s willing to risk everything. “Let’s be honest, opera is the last form you would expect to be dealing with this kind of subject matter,” says Jonathan Munby. “But music does have this extraordinary emotional impact and that can affect everyone – regardless of age. Here, five characters go on an intense psychological and emotional journey and the music means you get straight to the heart of the matter.” Sweetness and Badness has been written by Michael Wicherek, writer-in-residence for Box Clever Theatre, a London-based company specialising in creating new writing for young audiences. The music has been composed by Will Todd, who opens a new show on Broadway within weeks of seeing Sweetness and Badness premiere in Wales. “I’ve told the singers: don’t pretend to be sixteen, or worry about wearing the hoodie or the baggie trousers,” explains Michael. “This really is an art form which speaks to you emotionally, forget the clichés. Drama – whether it’s opera or theatre – can offer so many opportunities to reflect on where we stand in the world. For someone in their teens, that’s really important, because it’s a time of such huge change and conflict. It’s all about finding out where you can fit in and the characters in Sweetness and Badness have to answer that question too.” For WNO, it wasn’t just a question of asking what opera could possibly mean to a new generation of theatre goers. Commissioned by WNO MAX, the initiative which takes opera beyond the mainstage, Sweetness and Badness is the latest in a line of brand new commissions taking an experimental approach in combining key artistic talents from across different disciplines. Both Michael and Jonathan are new to opera and found the challenge of working so closely with a composer and an opera score an opportunity to try new approaches to their theatre-making. “I’m making no concessions,” admits Jonathan. “I will be directing this piece like I would a new piece of contemporary drama. It’s dark and mysterious in its setting and that will be reflected in the staging: some scenes will be entirely torch lit and faces and bodies will appear out of the darkness the railway tunnel where the opera is set.” WNO MAX’s creative approach to making new opera has won many supporters – and not just from the artistic community. Environmentalists and education specialists came on board to collaborate in the making of Land, Sea and Sky, its new trilogy of environmental operas, whilst Arriva Trains Wales is sponsoring two productions of Sweetness and Badness in Ludlow and Chester, impressed at the way the opera is being used to reach out to a marginalized community without diluting the company’s ambitions to create high quality drama and music. “It might seem odd for a train company to be supporting an opera, but we liked the fact that it translates genuine concerns about young peoples’ lives into an absorbing story, which touches on issues relevant to us,” explains Bob Holland, Managing Director of Arriva Trains Wales. “The characters spend their time near an old railway tunnel. They make their own opportunities, some of them dangerous and high risk, but it’s a real life situation and not polemical in any way.” |
| Welsh National Opera web site: www.wno.org.uk |
| Penny Simpson e-mail: |
Tuesday, August 22, 2006 |
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