Ten Plagues' and 'The Coronation of Poppea'In London Came the plague in sixteen sixty five One hundred thousand dead But I alive. London is infected. The dead fall in the streets. As the plague pits fill, the people of London struggle to maintain a society in the face of overwhelming mortality. Based on eye-witness accounts from 1665 and drawing poetic parallels with modern epidemics, Ten Plagues relates one man's journey through a city in crisis. Told entirely through a series of songs, Ten Plagues explores humanity's struggle with sickness and death and celebrates our capacity for survival. This volume also contains The Coronation of Poppea, a new version of Monteverdi's opera depicting the triumphant adultery between Poppea and Roman Emperor Nero. Tackling this tale of epic lives, Ravenhill updates Tacitus' scathing portrayal of decadence and imperial degeneracy with language which is contemporary, spare and brutally powerful. Taking opera librettos as a foundation, this volume presents two texts for modern music theatre by the seminally controversial playwright Mark Ravenhill. Mark Ravenhill's introduction to the volume explains the inspiration and writing process behind the two pieces. |
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... opera was an over ambitious start for a new collaboration. Conor suggested that a song cycle – an intense dramatic journey for a single voice and a piano – would be a good place for us to start working together. I didn't know very much ...
... opera was an over ambitious start for a new collaboration. Conor suggested that a song cycle – an intense dramatic journey for a single voice and a piano – would be a good place for us to start working together. I didn't know very much ...
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... Opera Up Close – Robin Norton-Hale, Ben Cooper and Adam Spreadbury Maher. I started to think about which operas might benefit from being performed in a small room behind a pub in north London. Opera today is nearly always performed in ...
... Opera Up Close – Robin Norton-Hale, Ben Cooper and Adam Spreadbury Maher. I started to think about which operas might benefit from being performed in a small room behind a pub in north London. Opera today is nearly always performed in ...
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... opera companies, was first performed in a theatre with the capacity of a modest sized West End playhouse. The relationship between the gods and man are integral to Orfeo and Ulysses and, to a certain extent, The Coronation of Poppea. In ...
... opera companies, was first performed in a theatre with the capacity of a modest sized West End playhouse. The relationship between the gods and man are integral to Orfeo and Ulysses and, to a certain extent, The Coronation of Poppea. In ...
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