Riders to the Sea, which is at the arts depot in London for one night only next Tuesday 18th February, follows a family in an ancient fishing community haunted by the grief of losing nearly all of the male members at sea and looks at what happens when the remaining son returns. The show was originally a play by Irish writer JM Synge which was transformed into an opera by much loved composer Ralph Vaughan Williams, famous for The Lark Ascending which has consistently been voted the nation’s favourite piece of classical music.
OperaUpClose is well known for trying to make opera more accessible and intimate and this show is no different. The musicians join the actors on stage meaning no orchestra pit, and there are also projections and audio recordings mixed with the live performances. Flora McIntosh, Artistic Director of the company and show says that anyone thinking of going to see the show doesn’t need to know much about it or even opera to enjoy it, ‘I would say, hand on heart, you don’t need to know anything in advance. Just like you don’t need to know anything about a film you might choose to watch, or a book you might choose to read. Sung in English and with captions throughout, there are multiple layers of storytelling going on in this production using sound, video, words, movement…I really hope everyone takes something different from it, there is no ‘right’ way’.'
Michael Betteridge, the composer of the newly commissioned orchestration of the show as well as new prologue The Last Bit of the Moon has called it a ‘sung play’ and thinks the themes of the show mean that anyone can take something from the production, ‘it's the universal themes of family, home, and grief that come to the fore in this work. We all have such different relationships with these three ideas and every member of the audience will experience and interpret the piece in vastly different ways. That’s the beauty of this work and I hope it gives audiences that opportunity to reflect.'
Riders to the Sea is in the middle of a five week tour of the UK which began in January in Southampton and stopped in Exeter, Plymouth and Chichester. Following the London date, the show will go to Hull, Oxford and Blackpool.
For more go to www.operaupclose.com
