Proving the power of contemporary opera to move and unsettle audiences, two one-act works from Irish uncle-and-niece collaborators Mark O’Halloran (librettist) and Emma O’Halloran (composer) – Mary Motorhead & Trade — stand as compelling examples of modern storytelling intensified through musical and vocal soundscapes.
For her commitment and sensitivity in championing challenging new work, Australian Contemporary Opera Company’s Artistic Director Linda Thompson deserves recognition.
The Australian premiere of these two operas – which sit comfortably beside one another as companion pieces, though their subject matter is anything but comfortable – demonstrates how musical invention, emotional force and narrative clarity can combine to produce an unforgettable theatrical impact.
Both works are based on plays by Mark O’Halloran and are transformed with striking operatic depth in Emma O’Halloran’s first venture into the form, despite her already substantial body of compositional work.
Directed by Melbourne-based Greta Nash, the double bill opens with the harrowing story of a young woman named Mary, imprisoned for the murder of her boyfriend Red. Mary Motorhead is a tightly focused monodrama in which raw honesty and an acceptance of consequences coexist without any overt plea for pity, understanding or judgement.
The matter-of-fact manner in which Mary recounts her story – far from suggesting cold-heartedness – allows her to present events with stark clarity. She begins with memories of adolescence, recalling how she once wanted “to burn down the whole fucking village”, before the narrative builds inexorably to the fatal moment when she takes a carving knife to her victim.
Dressed in an orange prison uniform and performing on a small raised platform of less than eight square metres, surrounded by hanging fluorescent tubes that suggest prison bars, mezzo-soprano Emily Edmonds delivers a compelling portrayal. With nothing more than a chair as a prop, Edmonds brings convincing nuance and physical presence to the role, rarely suppressing the simmering rage that lies beneath the surface.
Edmonds dark, full-bodied voice captures Mary’s alienation and volatile emotional shifts with authority. At times, the textual clarity is lost, and O’Halloran’s vocal writing does not always explore a wide expressive range but the overall effect remains riveting.
In the sixty minutes of Trade, contemporary opera is elevated to remarkable dramatic effect. The premise is simple. A rent boy meets an older man for sex in a low-budget hotel room. Within this framework unfolds a psychologically fraught encounter that resists tidy resolution – and is all the more powerful for it.
The two men share unexpected parallels. Both have children, both ostensibly live heterosexual lives and both are burdened with troubled pasts, yet their circumstances differ. One is financially desperate while the other has money. They have met before, but the situation shifts when the older man confesses that he has fallen in love with the younger.
Trade opens with a subtly brooding orchestral introduction as the younger man (Callum McGing) waits anxiously on a double bed while the older man (Christopher Hillier) remains in the bathroom. When he finally emerges, the awkward tension between them is palpable, and remains so, as the opera gradually reveals the complexities of their lives.
McGing gives a powerful performance as the younger man, capturing both naivety and deep unease while his inward, guarded physicality and often monosyllabic responses convey growing discomfort as the older man becomes increasingly emotionally exposed.
Hillier, as the older man, is exceptional, both vocally commanding and psychologically layered in revealing his character’s physical and emotional scars with great subtlety while portraying a man whose repressed sexuality has left him profoundly fractured.
Conductor Elaine Kelly leads a ten-member chamber ensemble positioned to the side of the stage. In Mary Motorhead, O’Halloran’s score immediately commands attention through its rhythmic energy and cinematic colour together with music that vividly evokes the prison’s metallic, reverberant atmosphere and Mary’s emotional narrative.
In Trade, by contrast, the score sustains a superb sense of tension and anticipation, reflecting the younger man’s fearful confrontation with unfamiliar desires. The inventive orchestration – incorporating tenor saxophone, electric guitar, traditional strings and electronics – blends effortlessly, creating evocative sonic textures and Alex Dowling’s electronic sound design enhances the score with carefully calibrated amplification without compromising opera’s traditional acoustic integrity.
The intimacy of the Beckett Theatre at Malthouse Theatre proves ideally suited to this double bill and Nash wisely keeps the audience’s focus firmly on the performers, allowing the dramas to unfold with unflinching clarity.
In presenting Mary Motorhead and Trade, ACOCo not only introduces Australian audiences to a striking contemporary operatic voice but also affirms the vitality of opera as a form capable of confronting complex and uncomfortable human truths. Highly recommended!
Mary Motorhead | Trade
Beckett Theatre – Malthouse Theatre, Sturt Street, Southbank (Melbourne)
Performance: Friday 6 March 2026
Season continues to 13 March 2026
Bookings: www.malthousetheatre.com.au
For more information, visit: www.acoco.org.au for details.
Images: Emily Edmonds in Mary Motorhead – photo by Kate Cameron | Emily Edmonds in Mary Motorhead – photo by Kate Cameron | Callum McGing and Christopher Hillier in Trade – photo by Kate Cameron | Christopher Hillier and Callum McGing in Trade – photo by Kate Cameron
Review: Paul Selar