Details

Private John Ball and his comrades in the Royal Welsh Fusiliers are posted to the Somme. In Mametz Wood they enter a strange realm - outside of time, dream-like but deadly. Rather than simply reporting the horrors of the Somme, In Parenthesis dares to offer hope. Even here amongst the destruction, a fragile flowering of regeneration and re-birth can be found. Bell's beautiful score combines traditional Welsh song with moments of otherworldliness, terror, humour and transcendence. David Pountney's period production is both an evocation and a commemoration of the events of the Somme. New. In Parenthesis is young British composer Iain Bell's adaptation of the epic poem by Welsh poet, writer and artist David Jones. In Parenthesis is commissioned by the Nicholas John Trust with 14-18 NOW, the UK cultural programme to commemorate World War I. Sung in English with surtitles in Welsh and English

Cast/Performers

Andrew Bidlack (Private Ball), Peter Coleman-Wright (Bard of Brittannia / HQ Officer), Alexandra Deshorties (Bard of Germania / Alice the Barmaid / The Queen of the Woods), George Humphreys (Lieutenant Jenkins), Marcus Farnsworth (Lance Corporal Lewis), Mark Le Brocq (Sergeant Snell), Donald Maxwell (Dai Great Coat), Graham Clark (The Marne Sergeant)

Creatives/Company

Music: Iain Bell
Lyrics(s): David Antrobus, Emma Jenkins
Producer: Welsh National Opera
Conductor: Carlo Rizzi
Director: David Pountney
Design: Robert Innes Hopkins
Lighting: Malcolm Rippeth