Modern opera explores today’s deepest social concerns
In Bound, Against the Grain Theatre’s new project, musical theatre converges with public workshops
The Way Forward Together. It’s a slogan we might see during an election campaign. It sounds positive. In this particular case, it is the catchphrase for measures the government is taking to make sure its citizens are safe and secure.
But is there a point at which my safety and security comes at the expense of someone else’s freedom? What if it is at the expense of my own freedom?
This conundrum, plucked from today’s headlines, is at the core of the latest musical theatre project by Toronto’s Against the Grain Theatre. The freethinking company that brought us reimagined operas by Mozart and Puccini in a television studio, a banquet hall and a shabby pub is turning its dramatic sights on meaty issues.
In Bound, which gets the first of a series of public workshops starting Thursday, Against the Grain introduces us to seven detained individuals. Each person has done something to threaten Peace, Order and Good Government. In a series of spoken dialogues and sung arias, we discover who they are and what the charges are.
Instead of Mozart or Puccini, the music is beamed in to us from the 18th century’s George Frideric Handel. The great conflicts and loves expressed in operas such as Giulio Cesare, Rodelinda, Alcina, Ariodante and Serse are recast in service of our times, in English.
Music director Topher Mokrzewski and director Joel Ivany, who cofounded the company a half-dozen years ago, were searching for a way to make opera relevant. It’s not just about adapting music, but everything that goes into the art form. We could call it Richard Wagner’s “Gesamtkunstwerk” for the 21st century.
“We were thinking about how to make an event not just about music, but a unified experience,” Mokrzewski says.
Ivany explains how this will involve “processing” audience members at the entrance of Canadian Opera Company’s Imperial Oil Opera Theatre, and giving them a copy of The Way Forward Together booklet, which details the State’s mission and objectives.
“We want to put everyone in a frame of mind to sympathize with these people,” says Ivany of the seven detainees.
The past two weeks of rehearsals have involved deep research, including having members of Toronto’s Muslim, transgender and Holocaust survivor communities speak to the performers and creative team. These conversations are the basis for improvised dialogue between the State (voiced by actor Martha Burns) and the detainees.
Ivany and Mokrzewski are trying to make the politics behind Bound fit the compelling humanity of opera. “The music and text are something you need to feel at gut level,” the music director adds.
Mokrzewski will bring Handel’s scores (occasionally modified by composer-advisor Kevin Lau) to life on a grand piano. The singers include some of Canada’s finest younger voices.
The four performances at the COC’s Hal Jackman Studio between Dec.14 and16, are an ideal opportunity to get feedback from audiences.
“It’s an open-ended process,” Ivany insists, so the show could change in all sorts of different ways.
“But I don’t feel this is at all risky for us,” Mokrzewski interjects.
“It’s part of what we’re doing at Against the Grain.”
Go to againstthegraintheatre.com for more information about Bound and the workshop performances. Freelance classical music writer John Terauds is supported by the Rubin Institute for Music Criticism, San Francisco Conservatory of Music and Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation.