Thomas Adés’ masterpiece comes to The Hawk’s Well
NOTORIOUS socialite Margaret Whigham’s sensational 1963 divorce from the Duke of Argyll was pure tabloid fodder. Headlines of her extravagances enthralled and titillated a gossip-hungry public in what was perhaps the world’s first modern-day sex scandal.
The story of her life is documented in Thomas Adés’ opera ‘Powder Her Face’.
Coming to the Hawk’s Well Theatre on March 3rd, Artistic Director, Fergus Sheil promises an energetic and fast-paced show.
Speaking to The Sligo Champion, he said: “It’s a brilliant opera that’s set in the early 20s. It’s youthful and there’s a great burst of energy. It’s quickly established itself as a masterpiece. It hasn’t been done before in Ireland.
“The Duchess is the central character. It’s very fast paced, the duchess is involved in a sex scandal story. Most of the cast play a few different roles.”
‘Powder Her Face’ has quickly established itself as a masterpiece. “It’s the way the story is told. It’s like watching The Crown or Downton Abbey is some ways where the characters are larger than life. It’s the same here. It’s a period production with an orchestra of 15 where a lot them play two or three different instruments. It’s a tough challenge.”
The show is being brought to Sligo by the Irish National Opera in co-production with NI Opera.
The Irish National Opera, formed with both Wide Open Opera and Opera Theatre Company.
Fergus explained: “We’ve put together a new company because there was a new mandate from the Arts Council for a new opera company. So we started new with a bigger remit for large scale productions and medium scale productions.”
He is aiming to grow the popularity of opera in Ireland with his new role.
“We’re broadcasting, streaming on the internet and all of that just to try and reach a wider audience. We’re holding events to try and reach out to a wider audience. Opera is not yet at the same level as maybe theatre here, historically it was.
“We have the ingredients here so we just want to bring all of those together to try and grow opera as much as possible. We’re looking at operas that would be of interest to a wider audience, and ticket prices and all of that to try and grow it here,” he explained.