Output details
35 - Music, Drama, Dance and Performing Arts
Royal Central School of Speech and Drama
El Gallo
• PaR (DVDs and portfolio)
An opera without text for six actors (not opera singers) and two string quartets, which was created through a process akin to devised theatre and interrogates opera from different perspectives
300 word statement - Information about the research process and/ or content
El Gallo, an opera without text for six actors (not opera singers) and two string quartets, was created through a process akin to devised theatre and interrogates opera from different perspectives. It challenges traditional practice concerning singers, the function of text in relation to music, the segregation of orchestra from singers and the creative process itself. As part of an inquiry into cultural translation occasioned by the international context of audience, my specific challenge was to develop a piece which could be appreciated without recourse to translations, surtitles or programme notes.
The primary research question asks, ‘how can narrative and character be developed in a large-scale opera without a recognised language?’ The research proceeded according to three methodological goals:
1. To test the relation of sense and meaning /reference to musical sense, by stripping words of apparent meaning;
2. To explore whether this can open up a musical experience of Opera that evades the problem of translation, etc;
3. To see if, by detaching linguistic meaning and the instrumentalist from a score, a compositional work can be opened up to improvised/devised elements.
An unexpected outcome of the process was an interest in failure, which provides the very climax to the narrative. Itzia (Shaptes) was the weakest singer of the cast but played a fundamental role in the dramaturgical development. Her startling vocal crack halts the performance and the score attempted to notate the sound she made and her dancing. The vocal lines reflect the athletic leaps of Fabrina (Jogbos) and the inability of Kaveh (Shaktas) not to improvise in performance.
Commissioned by Teatro de Ciertos Habitantes, El Gallo was first performed at the Festival de Mexico en el Centro Histórico, Mexico City, Mexico (2009), subsequently performed over 100 times across the Americas and Europe, and filmed for TV and released commercially on CD.
