The World’s Wife
Ragazze quartet
Opera theatre
The World’s Wife is based on an anthology of poems by Carol Ann Duffy and reflects on collective stories, historical events and myths, told from an altered, female perspective. Inspired by Duffy’s poems, composer Tom W. Green wrote a chamber opera for singer, string quartet and looping station.
Throughout the opera, different female characters take the stage, both historical and mythological, ranging from the sexually awakened little-red cap to the motherly Queen Herod. By way of response, Green’s composition contains music from past female composers who were sometimes unduly ignored, such as Clara Schumann and Fanny Mendelssohn. Ragazze Quartet and Dutch opera director Jorinde Keesmaat are for the first time creating a fully staged version of the opera. Keesmaat (known from a.o. Andriessen’s Anais Nin + Odysseus Women) is intrigued by the absence of the female voice which paradoxically speaks through Duffy’s poems.
The challenge was to visualise the layering of Duffy’s lyrics in conjunction with set, lighting, music and choreography. The visuals gave musical moments of emotion to Duffy’s lyrics. A crucial extra dimension of the opera.