- Director Ella Marchment
- Assistant Directors Kevin Rose and Dasia-Marie Mitchell
- Conductors Karen Keating and Timothy J. Robblee
- Composers Julius Eastman, Santa Ratniece, Meredith Monk, Missy Mazzoli, and Jonathan Newman
- Choreographer Lindsay Browning
- Company Opera Up Close with EDGE Ensemble
- Theatre Shingleton Blackbox Theater, Winchester, USA
- Cast and creatives Digital programme
- Notes World premiere
- Date November 2023
Synopsis
Caged Birds is a multi-disciplinary collaboration featuring dance and opera, as well as augmented reality by the Shenandoah Center for Immersive Learning (SCIL) Lab and live music by the EDGE Ensemble. The production, which features works by Julius Eastman, Meredith Monk, Santa Ratniece and Missy Mazzoli, is an immersive exploration and meditation on identity through the lens of composers who have pushed the boundaries of classical music in recent years.
Conceived and staged by Ella Marchment, Caged Birds imagines a gathering of women trapped by, or in, their own bodies. Featuring characters inspired by Princess Diana, poet/writer Sylvia Plath, obstetrician Margaret Ann Bulkley (under the male pseudonym James Barry) and singer–songwriter Amy Winehouse, the work creatively explores iconic figures from across history and immerses audiences in their struggles to be accepted for who they were in a male-dominated society.
Sung in English with chamber ensemble accompaniment.
Photos
All photos (C) Lindsay Browning, LBrowningPhotography.com