Details

The Silver Tassie follows the fortunes of a group of young men and their families at the time of the First World War. Leaving for the trenches, Harry Heegan and his friends are euphoric: they have won the football cup - the silver tassie - and believe themselves invincible. In music at once visceral and tender, Turnage evokes the spectral domain of the battlefield and the shattered lives of the returning men. World Premiere.

Cast/Performers

Gerald Finley (Harry Heegan), Sarah Connolly (Susie Monican), Vivian Tierney (Mrs Foran), Mary Hegarty (Jessie Taite), David Kempster (Teddy Foran), Leslie John Flanagan (Barney Bagnal), Anne Howells (Mrs Heegan), John Graham-Hall (Sylvester Heegan), Mark Le Brocq (Dr Maxwell)

Creatives/Company

Music: Mark-Anthony Turnage
Lyrics: Amanda Holden
Company(s): English National Opera, The Dallas Opera
Conductor: Paul Daniel
Director: Bill Bryden
Design: William Dudley
Lighting(s): Mark Henderson, Nick Moran
Choreographer: Stuart Hopps

The Silver Tassie

The Silver Tassie (Opera or Operetta) production archive for QTIX code T897197844. Details of all The Silver Tassie archived productions can be found under the QTIX code: S0173356481

Archive Listings

16 Feb 00
to
3 Mar 00

London Coliseum
West End, Greater London
Performance Details => Venue archive

Reviews

The Telegraph: 11Jan01:
[Mark-Anthony Turnage], perhaps the most gifted of our younger composers, has given birth to a thrilling new work which has legs, as well as a heart and mind. The opera will be shown on BBC2 on April 30, 2000, but I urge anyone with open ears to book for the remaining live performances.

The Times: 11Jan01:
The premiere of [Mark-Anthony Turnage] s new opera was a resounding, inspiring triumph. Tassie is vibrantly theatrical from first to last, and Turnage acknowledges that tunes are no bad thing in opera: his score is packed full of them. Should there be any doubt that Tassie is highly rewarding to sing, just listen to [Gerald Finley] as Harry. He sings with amazing variety of tone colour and dynamic. There are equally vivid performances from [David Kempster] as Teddy and from [Mary Hegarty], [Sarah Connolly], [Vivian Tierney] and [Anne Howells]. [Paul Daniel], [Bill Bryden] and [William Dudley] (conductor, director and designer) are all at their best, and the choral singing is as overwhelming as Turnage s visionary writing demands. Go, go, go.

Financial Times: 11Jan01:
In shape and style Tassie is 50 years out of date. The mistake lies not in [Mark-AnthonyTurnage] s music, which is inventive, often radiantly beautiful and extremely well made; nor in [Amanda Holden] s singable libretto. No, the problem is [Sean O Casey] s first world war play, which is too trapped in its own era and two-dimensional idiom.

User Reviews

The Telegraph (11Jan01): [Mark-Anthony Turnage], perhaps the most gifted of our younger composers, has given birth to a thrilling new work which has legs, as well as a heart and mind. The opera will be shown on BBC2 on April 30, 2000, but I urge anyone with open ears to book for the remaining live performances.

The Times (11Jan01): The premiere of [Mark-Anthony Turnage] s new opera was a resounding, inspiring triumph. Tassie is vibrantly theatrical from first to last, and Turnage acknowledges that tunes are no bad thing in opera: his score is packed full of them. Should there be any doubt that Tassie is highly rewarding to sing, just listen to [Gerald Finley] as Harry. He sings with amazing variety of tone colour and dynamic. There are equally vivid performances from [David Kempster] as Teddy and from [Mary Hegarty], [Sarah Connolly], [Vivian Tierney] and [Anne Howells]. [Paul Daniel], [Bill Bryden] and [William Dudley] (conductor, director and designer) are all at their best, and the choral singing is as overwhelming as Turnage s visionary writing demands. Go, go, go.

Financial Times (11Jan01): In shape and style Tassie is 50 years out of date. The mistake lies not in [Mark-AnthonyTurnage] s music, which is inventive, often radiantly beautiful and extremely well made; nor in [Amanda Holden] s singable libretto. No, the problem is [Sean O Casey] s first world war play, which is too trapped in its own era and two-dimensional idiom.

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CORONAVIRUS: All venues in the UK were shut down on March 16, 2020, and the restrictions were finally lifted on July 19, 2021. It is important to mention that the UK Theatre Web archive listings (iUKTDb) from March 2020 to July 2021 might not be accurate due to the lack of information regarding rescheduled and cancelled shows.