New Opera by Stuart MacRae – Ghost Patrol
3rd April 2012
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.
For this opera, MacRae works once more with crime novelist Louise Welsh (Welsh having written the libretto for his previous short opera Remembrance Day). It is directed by Matthew Richardson.
For more information and tickets for the premiere performances, please click here.
