Alongside my producing tasks for Down the Rabbit Hole, I’ve been attending music rehearsals for “Brontë”, an opera composed by Lisa Logan for Keynote Opera, in which I’ll be performing later this year.
The opera takes inspiration from Polly Teale’s play “Brontë”, in which the audience follow the three Brontë sisters through their tempestuous lives from childhood to death. Lisa has adapted the play, (with permissions) to become the sung libretto (text) in her opera.
I will be playing the roles of Cathy and singing Bertha. Cathy is a character from Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights and Bertha is a character from Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre. I am excited to play these roles as I believe they are manifestations of Emily and Charlotte’s innermost desires and thoughts. I think this will be a fun challenge to portray on stage.
The music is also quite thrilling to sing. I will sing melodic sequences which soar the higher vocal registers to imitate bird song and the freedom of flying over the moors. I am enjoying the technical task of drilling these phrases so that with practise they feel easier and increasing my vocal stamina as a result.
Performances will take place on 13, 15 and 16 September 2023 as part of the Grimeborn Festival at the Arcola Theatre.
Today the whole cast rehearsed together for the first time to run through the music for the whole piece.
Cast:
Elena Garrido Madrona ( Charlotte )
Ben Thapa ( Branwell, Heathcliff, Arthus Huntington )
Anna Marmion ( Emily )
Charlotte Hoather ( Cathy, singing Bertha )
Grace Nyandoro ( Bertha )
Sandeep Gurrapadi ( Ben-Nicholls )
Conductor: Alex Ingram
Composer: Lisa Logan
Director: Katharina Kastening
Designer: Ashley Martin-Davies
Choreographer: Magdalena Mannion
