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Vagabones

Raymond Deane
6 – 13 September 2019

Set in the small Co. Cork town over three days in 1661, the opera works as a moving tale of conflicted human emotions and stratagems, while deftly touching on issues of gender, fundamentalism, imperialism and the clash of cultures.

Synopsis

Following the outstanding success of The Return of Ulysses at Kilkenny Arts Festival 2018, Opera Collective Ireland presented the World Première of Raymond Deane’s Vagabones. Based on Emma Donoghue’s stage adaptation of her 1996 radio play Trespasses, the opera with a libretto by Renate Debrun is a fictionalisation of the judge’s own account of the case of Florence Newton in Youghal – one of only a handful of witch trials that ever took place in Ireland.

An Opera Collective Ireland commission with funds from the Arts Council of Ireland.

The author Emma Donoghue writes:

“In the mid 90s, when I came across the 1661 trial record of Florence Newton, the ‘Witch of Youghal’, what seized me was how rare a situation it illuminated – it’s one of only a tiny handful of Irish witch hunts – and how interesting the details were. The case grew out of Protestant/Catholic and settler/native misunderstandings and tensions that still affect the Northern Irish peace process (as well as the politics of other colonized nations) today. This story of a kiss that makes someone violently ill also asked questions about powerless women, what they might have to resort to for survival, and whether solidarity and tenderness might be possible between them. Arthur Miller’s The Crucible was one helpful reference, but also Brian Friel’s Translations.

The first incarnation of Trespasses was as a radio play for RTÉ, because my concept was “voices in the dark”: I wanted to see if I could explore Florence Newton’s persecution not in the dramatic spotlight of the courtroom drama but through three days of her imprisonment, so I gave her a fictional boy cellmate to talk to. I tried to make sense of the experiences that motivated the accuser, Mary Longdon, in terms both of epilepsy and her isolated position as an immigrant servant. When Trespasses moved on stage as a two-act theatre production, the story took on a more complex social quality as well as a vivid physicality. With this adaptation into the chamber opera Vagabones*, I am absolutely delighted that the tangled story of this troubled town is coming to life again in a whole new form.”

*Libretto by Renate Debrun.

Dates & Venues

→ 6 September 2019 – Civic Theatre, Tallaght, Dublin

→ 7 September 2019 – Civic Theatre, Tallaght, Dublin

→ 10 September 2019 – An Táin Arts Centre, Dundalk

→ 12 September 2019 – St. Mary’s Collegiate Church, Youghal, Co. Cork

→ 13 September 2019 – Theatre Royal, Waterford

Press

“…an exciting offering from Opera Collective Ireland. Deane’s music is so sweetly distinctive, and Donoghue’s witch narrative creates a perfect scaffold for his dramatic instincts. A bewitching experience, in a 21st century sort of way.”
Independent.ie 

“The singers give it their all, with impressive performances from mezzo-soprano Carolyn Holt as Florence; baritone Rory Musgrave as the Mayor of Youghal; Ross Scanlon as the twisted bailiff, John Pyne; soprano Sarah Power as the Pyne-inspired accuser and epileptic, Mary Longdon; bass-baritone Rory Dunne as the faith-healer and torturer, Valentine Greatrakes; and soprano Kelli-Ann Masterson as Florence’s cell-mate, Dónal O’Dare.”
Irish Times

“There is no other Irish composer as adept at this flexible, expressionistic approach and throughout the entire production the music and the singers seemed to move perfectly in sync with one another.

As Florence Newton – by far the most complex character in the opera – Carolyn Holt managed to negotiate the difficult challenge of this role, switching from moments of reflection with her young cellmate Dónal –  sung by the excellent Kelli-Ann Masterson – to electric altercations with Rory Dunne as the mendacious Greatrakes. Playing the one unambiguously evil character in the opera, Dunne’s booming voice and big stage presence made him well cast in this role. Sarah Power was similarly well cast as Mary Longdon and her sensitive voice managed to convey her character’s pathetic weakness.

Vagabones marks another successful operatic venture and along with The Alma Fetish, can be considered one of the more convincing experiments in the recent boom of Irish operatic production.”
The Journal of Music

Programme download

Programme download

Creative Team

Composer Raymond Deane
Librettist Renate Debrun
Director Ben Barnes
Conductor Sinéad Hayes
Movement Director Libby Seward
Set & costume design Monica Frawley
Lighting design John Comiskey
Production photography Frances Marshall

Cast

Valentine Greatrakes Rory Dunne
Florence Newton Carolyn Holt
Donal O’Dare Kelli-Ann Masterson
Mary Longdon Sarah Power
The Mayor Rory Musgrave
John Pyne Ross Scanlon
Ned/The jailer Fionn Ó hAlmhain

Collaborating with

In association with Crash Ensemble. Based on the play “Trespasses” by Emma Donoghue.

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