Projection of sarcastic short operas as a commentary on the climate catastrophe in the courtyard of the university library
The ‘Scorched Earth Trilogy’ consists of three short satirical opera films that are projected onto a large wall in a public space for an audience listening on headphones. You can immerse yourself briefly in a lush world of orchestral opera with musical moments that grab your attention, touch you and sweep you away. The works use biting Irish wit to reflect our broken relationship with the earth and the environment, highlighting climate change, environmental damage and consumer behaviour. And they are also unsparing in their criticism of the political situation in our Western democracies: ‘Trickle down Economics’ shows a pissing contest on the fringes of the World Economic Forum at Davos. Drunken politicians draw economic models on the wall in front of them – while relieving themselves like little boys. ‘Won´t bring back the Snow’ tells the story of a father and daughter polar bear who are forced into the city to scavenge for food in bins. But the daughter hopes to escape this as a TikTok influencer. Lastly ‘Revival’ presents a wasteland of rotten garbage in which children wear gasmasks to play. But these same children are also at the heart of an ecological revolution, planting seeds that grow into wondrous, colourful plants. The collective Dumbworld, founded in Ireland in 2009, sees opera as a complex form of street art, as in the seven-part cycle of short operas ‘Things We Throw Away’ that was seen at Kunstfest during the pandemic in 2020, when parts of the Weimar cityscape were turned into miniature opera stages in Coproduction with the Deutsches Nationaltheater Weimar.
Produktion / Production Dumbworld
Koproduktion / Coproduction Irish National Opera
Regie / Director John McIlduff
Text / Text John McIlduff
Autor / Author John McIlduff and Brian Irvine
Musik / Music Brian Irvine
Komposition / Composition Brian Irvine
Visuelle Effekte / VFX Enda O’Connor
Orchester / Orchestra Irish National Opera Orchestra
Musikalischer Leiter & Dirigent / Musical Director & Conductor Fergus Sheil
Mit / With Doreen Curran (Mezzosopran), Francesco Giusti (Countertenor), Eamonn Mulhall (Tenor), Owen Gilhooly & Brendan Collins (Bariton), Megan O’Neill (Sopran), Nicole White & Maria Nilsson Waller (Darstellerinnen), Mick O’Byrne (Hanging Man), The Independent Theatre Workshop (Kinderchor)
Förderung / Funding Arts Council Ireland Funding Opera, Fedora, Isolde, Opera Europa, Belfast City Council, Arts Council Northern Ireland
Gastspielförderung / Guest performancefunding Culture Ireland / Embassy of Ireland in Germany, Thüringer Ministerium für Umwelt, Energie und Naturschutz
»TRILOGIE DER VERBRANNTEN ERDE« is part of Zeitgeist Irland 24, an initiative of Culture Ireland and the Embassy of Ireland in Germany.