In the Penal Colony (opera)
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''In the Penal Colony'' is a
chamber opera Chamber opera is a designation for operas written to be performed with a chamber ensemble rather than a full orchestra. Early 20th-century operas of this type include Paul Hindemith's ''Cardillac'' (1926). Earlier small-scale operas such as Pergoles ...
in one act and 16 scenes composed by
Philip Glass Philip Glass (born January 31, 1937) is an American composer and pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century. Glass's work has been associated with minimal music, minimalism, being built up fr ...
to an English-language
libretto A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the t ...
by
Rudy Wurlitzer Rudolph "Rudy" Wurlitzer (born January 3, 1937) is an American novelist and screenwriter. Wurlitzer's fiction includes '' Nog'', ''Flats'', ''Quake'', ''Slow Fade'', and ''Drop Edge of Yonder''. He is also the author of the travel memoir, ''Hard ...
. The opera is based on Franz Kafka's German-language short story '' In the Penal Colony''. It was commissioned by
ACT Theatre ACT Theatre (originally A Contemporary Theatre) is a regional, non-profit theatre organization in Seattle, in the US state of Washington. Gregory A. Falls (1922–1997) founded ACT in 1965 and served as its first Artistic director; at the time ACT ...
in Seattle, Washington, where it premiered on August 31, 2000. It has a running time of approximately 80 minutes and is scored for two singers ( tenor and
bass-baritone A bass-baritone is a high-lying bass or low-lying "classical" baritone voice type which shares certain qualities with the true baritone voice. The term arose in the late 19th century to describe the particular type of voice required to sing thr ...
) and a string quintet.


Background

Kafka's harrowing story "In the Penal Colony" ("") was adapted as a play by
Steven Berkoff Steven Berkoff (born Leslie Steven Berks; 3 August 1937) is an English actor, author, playwright, theatre practitioner and theatre director. As a theatre maker he is recognised for staging work with a heightened performance style eponymously k ...
in 1969. Glass chose to use it as the basis for an opera and selected the creative team. He and his long-time collaborator and former wife
JoAnne Akalaitis JoAnne Akalaitis (born June 29, 1937, in Cicero, Illinois) is an avant-garde Lithuanian-American theatre director and writer. She won five Obie Awards for direction (and sustained achievement) and was founder in 1970 of the critically acclaimed M ...
worked on the idea on and off for three years before receiving a commission from
ACT Theatre ACT Theatre (originally A Contemporary Theatre) is a regional, non-profit theatre organization in Seattle, in the US state of Washington. Gregory A. Falls (1922–1997) founded ACT in 1965 and served as its first Artistic director; at the time ACT ...
in Seattle. Akalaitis worked closely with the librettist,
Rudy Wurlitzer Rudolph "Rudy" Wurlitzer (born January 3, 1937) is an American novelist and screenwriter. Wurlitzer's fiction includes '' Nog'', ''Flats'', ''Quake'', ''Slow Fade'', and ''Drop Edge of Yonder''. He is also the author of the travel memoir, ''Hard ...
, in adapting the story for the musical stage and directed the premiere production. Glass referred to the work as a "pocket opera" and deliberately chose the small-scale format of a
chamber opera Chamber opera is a designation for operas written to be performed with a chamber ensemble rather than a full orchestra. Early 20th-century operas of this type include Paul Hindemith's ''Cardillac'' (1926). Earlier small-scale operas such as Pergoles ...
to increase the likelihood that it would be frequently performed.Akalaitis, Joanne (June 10, 2001)
"Adapting the Horrors Of a Kafka Story To Suit Glass's Music"
'' The New York Times''. Retrieved February 27, 2013.
Kinzer, Stephen (December 6, 2000)
"A Pocket-Size Opera From a Harrowing Kafka Story"
''The New York Times''. Retrieved February 27, 2013.
In Kafka's story, only two of the four characters speak, The Officer and The Visitor, whose roles in the opera are assigned to a
bass-baritone A bass-baritone is a high-lying bass or low-lying "classical" baritone voice type which shares certain qualities with the true baritone voice. The term arose in the late 19th century to describe the particular type of voice required to sing thr ...
and tenor respectively. As in the story, The Prisoner and The Guard remain silent. Akalaitis added a fifth character for the premiere production, Kafka himself, who serves as a narrator and onlooker. The texts for the narration were chosen by Akalaitis from Kafka's diaries. The opera's music is played by a string quintet. In the original production, they appear as musicians from the penal colony where the story takes place and are costumed variously as soldiers and civilians.


Performance history

The world premiere performance of the opera on August 31, 2000 at ACT Theatre was a co-production with the
Court Theatre A court is any person or institution, often as a government institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in accordanc ...
in Chicago who staged it later that year.
John Duykers John Duykers (born September 30, 1944, in Butte, Montana) is a prominent American operatic tenor, especially known for his work in modern and contemporary opera. He made his formal debut with the Seattle Opera in 1966. Career Since then, Duykers ...
, who had created the role of Mao Tse-tung in Adams's '' Nixon in China'', was The Visitor, and
Herbert Perry Herbert Edward Perry Jr. (born September 15, 1969) is an American former college and professional baseball player who was an infielder in Major League Baseball (MLB) for all or parts of nine season during the 1990s and 2000s. Perry played coll ...
, who had created the role of
Vasco da Gama Vasco da Gama, 1st Count of Vidigueira (; ; c. 1460s – 24 December 1524), was a Portuguese explorer and the first European to reach India by sea. His initial voyage to India by way of Cape of Good Hope (1497–1499) was the first to link E ...
in Glass's ''The White Raven'', was The Officer. Perry's identical twin brother, Eugene, alternated with him in the role. Alan O. Johnson conducted the Metropolitan String Ensemble. The sets were designed by
John Conklin John Conklin (born June 22, 1937) is an international theater designer, dramaturg and teaches in the Department of Design for Stage and Film at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. Life and career John Conklin was born in Hartford Co ...
, with costumes by
Susan Hilferty Susan Hilferty is an American costume designer for theatre, opera, and film. Biography Early life and education Hilferty grew up in a big family in Arlington, Massachusetts, where her greatest source of joy was the library. "We didn’t have a ...
and lighting by Jennifer Tipton.Ehren, Christine (August 31, 2000)
"Seattle's ACT Goes In the Penal Colony w/ Glass-Akalaitis World Premiere Aug. 31 – Oct. 1"
. ''
Playbill ''Playbill'' is an American monthly magazine for theatergoers. Although there is a subscription issue available for home delivery, most copies of ''Playbill'' are printed for particular productions and distributed at the door as the show's pr ...
''. Retrieved February 27, 2013.
''In the Penal Colony'' ran at the ACT Theatre until October 1. The production, directed by JoAnne Akalaitis with the same singers, opened in Chicago at the Court Theatre in December 2000. Its New York City premiere followed in June 2001 when it was performed by the Classic Stage Company. The German premiere was produced in November 2002 by the
Berliner Kammeroper The Berliner Kammeroper was a Berlin opera company with changing venues, founded in 1981 by Henry Akina and . Around seventy works of music theatre, mostly rarely or previously unperformed, from various genres were developed, including proper cham ...
, directed by , conducted by
Peter Aderhold Peter Aderhold (born 1966) is a German composer and conductor. Life and career Born in Berlin, Aderhold studied conducting (with Horst Förster, Olaf Koch (conductor), Olaf Koch, Heinz Rögner) and composition (Günter Kochan) at the Hochschul ...
. The work premiered in France at the
Opéra National de Lyon The Opéra National de Lyon, marketed as Opéra de Lyon during the last decade, is an opera company in Lyon, based and performing mostly at the Opéra Nouvel, an 1831 theater that was modernized and architecturally transformed in 1993. The inaugu ...
on January 23, 2009.
Opéra National de Lyon The Opéra National de Lyon, marketed as Opéra de Lyon during the last decade, is an opera company in Lyon, based and performing mostly at the Opéra Nouvel, an 1831 theater that was modernized and architecturally transformed in 1993. The inaugu ...
(2009)
''Dans la colonie pénitentiaire'' (Libretto and notes)
Retrieved February 27, 2013 .
The UK premiere took place at the Linbury Studio Theatre in London's Royal Opera House on September 15, 2010. On that occasion, it was performed in a production by Music Theatre Wales who then took it on tour to several British cites. It was given three performances in May 2011 at the Theater der Künste in Zürich as part of the Philip Glass Festival and had its Australian premiere at the National Institute of Dramatic Art's Parade Playhouse in Sydney on April 7, 2012.McCallum, Peter (April 9, 2012)
"Redemption, through Glass, darkly"
'' The Age''. Retrieved February 27, 2013.
After the original Akalaitis production performed in Seattle, Chicago and New York City, subsequent ones have varied the number of non-speaking roles and the placement of the string ensemble. The Opéra National de Lyon production directed by Richard Brunel added a second non-speaking guard. The Music Theatre Wales production directed by Michael McCarthy eliminated the guard's role completely. The Australian production directed by Imara Savage placed the string players off-stage and set the action in a hospital-like corridor. None of these later productions used the Kafka narrator.


Roles


Synopsis

''Setting: The remote island penal colony of a powerful but unnamed country in 1907'' A high-ranking visitor arrives in the penal colony. He was invited there to witness the public execution of a prisoner using a strange machine invented by the former commandant of the colony. The machine slowly carves a description of the condemned man's crimes into his flesh and after hours of excruciating torture kills him. The device is operated by the officer in charge of the prison who is utterly devoted to the machine and to the memory of the deceased commandant who invented it. He is disturbed by the machine's state of disrepair and the growing criticism of its use, including criticism from the island's current commandant. He hopes that the visitor will be impressed by the machine and will speak in favor of its "redemptive powers" to the commandant. The visitor is appalled by the machine but sings "It's always risky interfering in other peoples' business ..I oppose this procedure, but I will not intervene." When the officer realizes that the visitor will not actively support him, he frees the condemned prisoner from the machine and climbs onto it himself, seeking the redemption of a slow and painful death. The machine, however, malfunctions and instead of killing him slowly, kills him almost instantly by piercing his skull. It then self-destructs. The visitor boards a boat and leaves the island.


Recording

*Glass: ''In the Penal Colony'' – Michael Bennett (The Visitor), Omar Ebrahim (The Officer); Music Theatre Wales; Michael Rafferty (conductor). Recorded October 27–28, 2010. Label: Orange Mountain OMM0078Godfrey, Paul Corfield (March 12, 2012)
"Recording Review: ''In the Penal Colony'' Orange Mountain OMM0078"
MusicWeb International. Retrieved February 27, 2012


References


External links


''In the Penal Colony''
on the official website of Philip Glass *Ozorio, Anne (September 20, 2010)
"An experience In the Penal Colony"
''Opera Today'' (review and production photos of the UK premiere) * "In the Penal Colony" by Franz Kafka in English translation by Ian Johnston on Wikisource {{Authority control Operas by Philip Glass Chamber operas Minimalist operas English-language operas One-act operas 2000 operas Operas Operas based on literature Compositions with a narrator