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MUSIC THEATRE WALES TO GIVE THE UK PREMIERE OF PHILIP GLASS’S CHAMBER OPERA
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In the Penal Colony
LINBURY THEATRE, ROYAL OPERA HOUSE WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15
Tour: September – November 2010
Welsh dates:
Aberystwyth Arts Centre October 13
Newport Riverfront October 20
Clywd Theatr Cymru, Mold November 14
Further dates tba
Music Theatre Wales will give the UK Premiere of Philip Glass’s chamber opera, In the Penal Colony on Wednesday September 15 at the Linbury Theatre of the Royal Opera House, where MTW is an Associate Company.
An extensive tour includes dates in Aberystwyth (Oct 13), Newport (Oct 20) – where the company visits the Riverfront Theare & Arts Centre for the first time - and Mold (Nov 14).
The premiere is yet another feather in the cap of the Cardiff-based company – widely admired at home and abroad for its bold productions of new and contemporary opera. Music Theatre Wales’ relationship with the music of Philip Glass goes back to 1989, when the company gave the European Premiere of The Fall of the House of Usher, which MTW also revived in 1993 and 2000.
Philip Glass remains one of the most popular and distinctive of all living composers and In the Penal Colony is a fine example of his unfailing ability to create work that challenges theatrical and musical norms.
The cast includes Omar Ebrahim as the Officer, Michael Bennett as the Visitor and actor Gerald Tyler as the Condemned Man. The opera will be directed by Michael McCarthy and conducted by Michael Rafferty, with designs by Simon Banham and lighting by Ace McCarron – the creative team behind many of MTW’s most successful productions.
Based on the powerful short story by Franz Kafka, In the Penal Colony is a searing study of man’s inhumanity and intolerance, of authority and cruelty, and of the very process of execution. The intimate, claustrophobic setting takes us up close to the two key characters – the obsessive Officer who proudly regards his gruesome execution machine as a perfect means of punishment and transfiguration, and the horrified Visitor who is required to witness events.
The opera lays bare the fearful psychological impact of the machine on both victim and perpetrator, while Philip Glass’s pulsating, compulsive music rakes up the tension to a haunting, unforgettable climax.
In the Penal Colony was originally commissioned and produced by A Contemporary Theater, (ACT) in Seattle in 2000 and directed by JoAnne Akalaitis.
In the Penal Colony Tour: September – November 2010
Linbury Theatre, ROH September 15 (UK Premiere), 16,17 & 18
Basingstoke Haymarket September 21
Oxford Playhouse September 29
Aberystwyth Arts Centre October 13
Newport Riverfront October 20
Clywd Theatr Cymru, Mold November 14
RNCM Manchester November 17 |
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Tuesday, March 30, 2010 |
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