Located in the UK
Located in the USA
Located in Europe
- Stuart MacRae
Ghost Patrol (2012)
- Novello & Co Ltd (World)
Ghost Patrol was co-commissioned by Scottish Opera and Music Theatre Wales. It was first performed on 30 August 2012 at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, conducted by Michael Rafferty and directed by Matthew Richardson.
- 1(pic)1(ca)1(bcl)1(cbn)/0110/perc/hp/str(2.0.1.2.1)
- Baritone, Soprano, Tenor, small recorded chorus
- 58 min
- Louise Welsh
Programme Note
SYNOPSIS
Britain is at war in a distant land. There are no bombs or armed combat in our streets, but images of the conflict and its victims dominate TV news reports, men in uniform are an everyday sight and a general air of militarism has infected the nation.
Ex-army comrades Sam and Alasdair are unexpectedly reunited after three years separation. Their meeting reignites a bond forged from danger, privation and a shared secret, which if revealed, could expose both of them to disgrace and prosecution. The need to keep their secret pulls the men together, but their differing responses to the shame of it threatens to pull them apart. Jealousy over Vicki, Alasdair’s girlfriend with whom Sam shares a mutual attraction, also jeopardizes the men’s equanimity. Sam is flesh and blood, but he’s also a ghost from the past who upsets the balance of Alasdair and Vicki’s lives. The consequences are deadly.
MacRae’s impassioned and atmospheric score brings to life these fractured and all too real people as they try - and fail - to escape the past.
Dramatis Personae:
Sam (tenor) An ex-army sergeant in his thirties, who has fallen on hard times
Alasdair (baritone) An ex-army captain in his thirties; proprietor of the pub where the action takes place; Vicki’s boyfriend
Vicki (soprano) An aspiring singer in her late twenties or early thirties; Alasdair’s girlfriend
Britain is at war in a distant land. There are no bombs or armed combat in our streets, but images of the conflict and its victims dominate TV news reports, men in uniform are an everyday sight and a general air of militarism has infected the nation.
Ex-army comrades Sam and Alasdair are unexpectedly reunited after three years separation. Their meeting reignites a bond forged from danger, privation and a shared secret, which if revealed, could expose both of them to disgrace and prosecution. The need to keep their secret pulls the men together, but their differing responses to the shame of it threatens to pull them apart. Jealousy over Vicki, Alasdair’s girlfriend with whom Sam shares a mutual attraction, also jeopardizes the men’s equanimity. Sam is flesh and blood, but he’s also a ghost from the past who upsets the balance of Alasdair and Vicki’s lives. The consequences are deadly.
MacRae’s impassioned and atmospheric score brings to life these fractured and all too real people as they try - and fail - to escape the past.
Dramatis Personae:
Sam (tenor) An ex-army sergeant in his thirties, who has fallen on hard times
Alasdair (baritone) An ex-army captain in his thirties; proprietor of the pub where the action takes place; Vicki’s boyfriend
Vicki (soprano) An aspiring singer in her late twenties or early thirties; Alasdair’s girlfriend
Scores
Vocal score
Reviews
Stuart MacRae's three-hander about the scars of war, to a libretto by Louise Welsh, does everything modern opera is supposed to do: it asks questions, stirs the imagination, challenges complacency, grabs the heart. Oh, and it renews the art form, too. You come out feeling different - about love, life and death. And yet, despite such complexity of thought and feeling, MacRae and Welsh make opera seem simple: they get the essentials right.
3rd September 2012
In Ghost Patrol, MacRae uses the same palette [as Huw Watkins' 'In the Locked Room'] and an equally sparse and punchy libretto, but opts for close-knit musical argument and a constantly simmering orchestral style, using electronics, pre-recorded chorus and inventive aural effects: violins in eerie, double-stopped harmonics, the double bass creating percussive menace by bouncing the wood of his bow. You can hear Birtwistle's influence in the high woodwind laments, but more as homage than imitation.
2nd September 2012
MacRae's opera, with no-holds-barred libretto by Louise Welsh, is immediately exciting, making exacting and effective use of rhythm to portray the ugliness and trauma of war.
31st August 2012