Goya
There is a particular trajectory traceable through Goya’s work: one that begins with sycophantic depictions of aristocracy and culminates in a grotesque apotheosis of images featuring excesses of human violence, superstition and greed. It is this voyage of distortion that we have set out to stage within another form of expression: opera.
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“A complicated piece, both artistically and technically. GOYA was highly successful due to David’s amazing ability to draw together disparate artistic threads and create something whole, unique, and exciting. David’s texts are sophisticated, sensitive, politically astute, gritty and witty, and his stage direction is creative and inspiring.”
A Word From the Librettist / Director
There is a particular trajectory traceable through Goya’s work: one that begins with sycophantic depictions of aristocracy and culminates in a grotesque apotheosis of images featuring excesses of human violence, superstition and greed. It is this voyage of distortion that we have set out to stage within another form of expression: opera. With self-reflexive references to the codified sentimental forms of petit-bourgeois flattery that constitute much of opera’s origins and contemporary manifestations, we have sought to expose opera to variation, difference, force, and renewal. The indeterminately articled ‘a’ opera is the result. Specific paintings serve as starting points for each ‘act’ that are then fed to the lions of contemporary approaches to electronic music, fractured dramaturgies and digital imagery. It has been rich to be able to observe how moments of true lyricism, affirmation, and what in previous times might have been called ‘the sublime’ still find their way to the surface of this piece. I hope this initial exploration will be as generative and productive an experience for you as it has been for us making it.
General Technical Specs
A complex staging with lots of video, tech, and projections complementing the work of one adventurous operatic singer.
More detailed information available upon request
Productions
University of Regina | Shu Box Theatre
La Universidad de Claustro de Sor Juana, al través de Colegío de Arte y Cultura (Mexico)
SUMMARY
PRODUCED BY: Auto-Repair Club
WRITTEN BY: David Fancy
COMPOSER: WL Altman
DJ: DAVID ROMAN
FEATURING: Helen Pridmore,
STAGE & LIGHTING DESIGN: Ian Campbell
LENGTH: 70 minutes
FROM THE TEXT
I am the widowed Duchess
the darkly dressed widowed duchess
I am kissing my painter
as he kisses me with his brush
with his furry little brush
made of horse hair
made of horse hair
Very soon he’ll paint me naked
He’ll paint me in the nude
He’s promised, He’s promised.
Then they’ll all wonder those febriles from the house of Oshuna.
The dunces, dip sticks, and douchebags from the house of Oshuna.
And I’ll be nude and glorious, glorious
Because I don’t know the tuberculosis is coming
I don’t know that the poison is hastening
arsenic, consumption, ravages of time:
Whatever kills me
Whatever killed me
no matter
no matter now
Because, I, I am so incredibly impossibly beautiful
so beauteous
bonny, comely, fair, slightly
dishy
exquisite
fine-looking, good looking, better looking, handsome, well favoured,
Glorious, resplendent, splendid, splendiferous,
Gorgeous
