STRAYMAKER and THE ABBEY THEATRE
in association with MIROIRS ÉTENDUS and ONCE OFF PRODUCTIONS
Present
ELSEWHERE
A NEW OPERA BY MICHAEL GALLEN
Libretto by Michael Gallen, Annemarie Ní Churreáin and Carys D. Coburn
Directed by Tom Creed
Conducted by Fiona Monbet
Following its hugely successful run on the Abbey Theatre stage in 2021, this bold new opera by Michael Gallen, based on the true story of the radical “Monaghan Asylum Soviet” of 1919”, goes on tour. Highlighted as one of the Irish Times’s Best of 2021, Elsewhere was also nominated for two Irish Times Theatre Awards, including Best Opera. We’re very excited to bring this “extraordinary, shocking, funny, and, ultimately, moving piece of contemporary theatre” to Galway this April.
In 1919, the staff of the Monaghan Asylum 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 is in constellation with our own, occurring during the 1918 Flu pandemic, and 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.
In Elsewhere, these events unfold through the visions of Celine, a patient who decades later remains ‘locked in’ to the moment of the Soviet, believing herself to be its leader. Through her interactions with the charismatic ‘Inspector of Lunatics’ we tread the borders between fantasy and incarceration.
Drawing upon the hum of murmured rosaries, the eccentric lilt of the border dialect and the glitched ornamentation of Oriel sean nós song, Elsewhere’s score melds a delicate, introspective complexity with the raucous energy of revolt.
The libretto is co-written by Michael Gallen with poet Annemarie Ní Churreáin and playwright Carys D. Coburn, and the production brings together a team of renowned Irish artists and rising international stars led by director Tom Creed and conductor Fiona Monbet. Singers and instrumentalists play a range of characters from patients and strikers to Marx and Jehovah, shape-shifting between work routines, football matches, negotiations, dances - in a dynamic that is both playful and uncanny. Over time we discover how Celine’s fate and that of the Soviet are entwined.
Dealing with themes of freedom, care and mental illness, Elsewhere explores the imagined future of a forgotten past.
CREATIVE TEAM
Concept/Composer: Michael Gallen
Libretto: Michael Gallen, Annemarie Ní Churreáin, Carys D. Coburn
Director: Tom Creed
Conductor: Fiona Monbet
Vocal Director: Romain Louveau
Choreographer: Shawn Ahern
Set & Costume Designer: Katie Davenport
Lighting Designer: Sinead McKenna
Video Designer: Luca Trufarelli
Associate Director: Eoghan Carrick
Associate Set & Costume Designer: LaurA Fajardo Castro
Associate Lighting Designer: Matt Burke
Producer: Maura O’Keeffe
Line Producer: Cally Shine
PERFORMERS
Singers: Daire Halpin, Fearghal Curtis, Adrian Dwyer,Carolyn Holt, Amy Ní Fhearraigh, Aaron O'Hare, and Sarah Shine
Ensemble Miroirs Étendus: Aurélie Martin, Constant Madon, Cyprien Noisette, Elsa Moatti, Julia Macarez, Sarah Margaine, Michèle Pierre, Amélie Potier, Sarah Van der Vlist, Romain Louveau
Funded by the Arts Council of Ireland, Creative Monaghan, L’Institut Français Paris and La Région Hauts-de-France and supported by Monaghan Arts Office, Centre Culturel Irlandais Paris
Upcoming Dates
8 - 9 April 2024: O’Reilly Theatre, Dublin
12 April 2024: Íontas Arts Centre, Castleblayney
17 April 2024: Cork Opera House, Cork
24 April 2024: Town Hall Theatre, Galway
Duration: approx. 1 hour, 20 min, no interval
Photos by Ros Kavanagh
“*****...riotous carnival dreams, musical warmth and incidental truths...this is a show that needs to be seen and heard–and more than once. It deserves to run and run.”
“**** ...a wildly engaging experience...sensitively and beautifully crafted. A cacophony of delight that is fun, thought provoking, and often moving.”
“**** Elsewhere is an extraordinary, shocking, funny, and, ultimately, moving piece of contemporary theatre.”
Previous Dates
15 - 20 Nov 2021: Abbey Theatre - Abbey Stage
Original Creative Team
Singers: Daire Halpin, Aaron O'Hare, Amy Ní Fhearraigh, Adrian Dwyer, Sarah Shine, Fearghal Curtis, Sinéad O'Kelly
Ensemble Miroirs Étendus: Aurélie Martin, Constant Madon, Cyprien Noisette, Elsa Moatti, Joséphine Besançon, Julia Macarez, Michèle Pierre, Sarah Van der Vlist, Romain Louveau
Concept/Composer: Michael Gallen
Libretto: Michael Gallen, Annemarie Ní Churreáin and Carys D. Coburn
Director: Tom Creed
Conductor: Fiona Monbet
Vocal Director: Romain Louveau
Set and Costume Designer: Katie Davenport
Lighting Designer: Sinead McKenna
Video Design: Luca Truffarelli
Choreographer: Shawn Ahern
Associate Director: Aoife Spillane Hinks
Producer: Maura O'Keeffe