Output details

The Manchester Carols

Duffy’s work with musicians has developed considerably since 2008, and this has led her into eclectic and collaborative research. In creating the Manchester Carols [performed at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, broadcast on BBC Radio 4, and published as a sheet music book in 2009) with composer Sasha Johnson Manning, Duffy set out to write popular (even congregational) carols rooted in the English carol tradition, but reflecting a contemporary humanist account of the Christmas story. In revisiting and remaking key English cultural properties (like our carols) Duffy has interpreted the Laureateship as a more outward-facing role. She makes new work for performance (in theatre and concert hall) in a belief that the Laureate’s role is to serve the community. Along with the composer, she researched the English carol tradition, in particular its use of symbols. Then in her own carols she responded to this, so that (for example) the traditional role of trees in carols (holly and ivy, etc) was picked up and remade in these Manchester Carols, when Joseph receives his news, as a carpenter, from the trees he works with. Contemporary resonances are evident, both political and (since many of these trees are threatened) ecological. The cherry tree offers Joseph wood for a cradle, the maple wood for toys, the blackthorn thorns for a crowning and the elder wood for a cross. Again, rooted in research into the English carol tradition, these trees anticipate the crucifixion (tree as symbol for the cross) whilst celebrating the nativity. Duffy’s conviction that the Christmas story was one of political struggle, exile and poverty led her to research (via newspaper archives, news websites) conflicts in Bosnia and Iraq, and in particular the plight of refugees, which for Duffy informs and renders contemporary the familiar setting of the Christmas story.