Stage set for new opera

By Ellen O'Brien

There’s a new opera heading for Cork!

‘Elsewhere’ by Michael Gannon is coming to the Cork Opera House on in April following its hugely successful run in the Abbey Theatre in 2021.

The opera is based on the true story of the radical Monaghan Asylum Soviet of 1919. The story of the opera is based on the events that took place at the Monaghan Asylum in 1919 where the staff barricaded the hospital gates and declared themselves an independent Soviet commune. Their strike brought asylum workers and patients together in collective action, presenting a revolutionary vision of what a care-centred society could look like.

The ‘moment of the Soviet’ coincided with the 1918 flu pandemic at a time when social and geographical borders were being redrawn. Marked by death and hardship, the strikers overcame sectarian divides to demand humane conditions and equal pay for women and men.

The opera tells the story through the visions of the character of Celine who is a patient that ‘locked in’ to the moment of the Soviet, believing herself to be its leader. Through her interactions with the charismatic Inspector of Lunatics, the audience treads the borders between fantasy and incarceration.

The story develops to show the connection between Celine’s fate and the Soviet. ‘Elsewhere’s’ score helps to tell this complicated story while also portraying the sense of revolt. The opera is co-written by Michael Gallen with poet Annemarie Ní Churreáin and playwright Carys D Coburn. It brings together a team of renowned Irish artists and international rising stars.

‘Elsewhere’ is directed by Tom Creed and the conductor is Fiona Monbet. The singers and instrumentalist participating in the opera play a wide range of roles including patients and strikers to Marx and Jehovah, shape-shifting between work routines, football matches, negotiations, dances.

'Elsewhere’ has previously been nominated for two Irish Times Theatre Awards including Best Opera. The opera was also named as one of the Irish Time’s Best of 2021. It deals with themes such as freedom, care and mental illness and also explores the imagined future of a forgotten past.