Ahead of this Christmas season, the Irish National Opera (INO) has undertaken the single largest commissioning-project in Irish operatic history. Involving 20 groups of writers, performers, directors, composers, conductors and more, 20 Shots of Opera will air online on December 17th.
The various short operatic pieces will range in subject matter from “Beethoven’s letters about his laundry, food and servant problems to a marine biologist meditating ‘on the enigmatic figure of Libris Solar, an alchemical blend of human, non-human and neoprene’”, the event preview says.
Tom Creed, who is directing one of the twenty pieces, Libris Solar, discussed his part in the production with The University Times. Creed says that the INO is “a brilliant thing to happen” for opera, and theatre in general in Ireland. “For the first time, we have a national company that’s producing repertoire and new work and working with a really diverse range of theatre and music artists.”
Discussing the concept behind his piece, he says he was inspired by Irish composer Jennifer Walshe, who has written the words for this short opera and whose music “captures the contemporary world in all its complexity”. Creed notes that her work “feels like it conveys clicking through 25 tabs or falling down a YouTube rabbit hole”.
Libris Solar, starring Claudia Boyle, an Irish classical soprano, is about a marine biologist who speculates about the eponymous character as it wanders around the city wearing a wetsuit, getting donuts and dealing with restless leg syndrome. The show, Creed notes, “is a character study accompanied by a whispered backing track of strange philosophy by the philosopher Alphonso Lingis”. He adds that it “presents a portrait of these two characters – the marine biologist and Libris Solar, who only appears on video”.
This is the first piece Creed has worked on “in a live way” since the pandemic started. He remarks that the designation of shows created for streaming as an essential service has been “really encouraging” because “the rehearsals and the filming were able to continue even after the country went into level five”.
The cast and crew have complied to the public health restrictions with face masks, temperature checks, social distancing, and hand sanitiser. Though it “took a little time” to adjust to the restrictions, eventually it became “entirely normal”, Creed admits, describing it as “exactly like going to the supermarket”.
He adds that it was “awe-inspiring” to know that there were 19 other shows in production at the same time, especially seeing the level of care that the company showed to each one. “It was a decent rehearsal period for a piece that’s seven minutes”, he says. “We were able to work in detail on the music and get to know it and the character the singer was playing.”
Learning to work with a camera crew and recording equipment was both a highlight and a challenge when producing the show, Creed says. He describes it as “getting a crash course in working with recorded media”, adding excitedly that it has been a “massive upskilling” for many Irish artists.
Creed is “really excited to see all the pieces” since he hasn’t seen any work outside of his own bubble. 20 Shots of Opera is “a brilliant thing that INO has done”, Creed says. His hope is that “existing opera audiences will take a chance on it”, and that it may provide a “way in” for new opera audiences.
20 Shots of Opera will be streamed on the 17th of December. More information can be found on the Irish National Opera website.
