One of the most successful operas ever composed by an Australian, Brett Dean’s internationally acclaimed Hamlet will finally make its long-awaited Sydney Opera House debut with Opera Australia this week.
Directed by Australian theatre royalty, Neil Armfield and based on Shakespeare’s infamous play, Hamlet premiered in 2017 at the Glyndebourne Festival UK and has since been staged at the Adelaide Festival, New York’s Metropolitan Opera and most recently at the Munich Opera Festival.
With Dean’s evocative music and thrilling libretto by Canadian Matthew Jocelyn offering audiences additional insights into the inner world of thought and emotion of the crazed son trying to avenge his father’s death, Hamlet is an invigoratingly modern interpretation of Shakespeare’s revenge thriller.
Armfield has created a “viscerally physical” (Sydney Morning Herald) production, collaborating with Australian designers Ralph Myers, Alice Babidge to produce a slick royal court with darkness at its heart.
Contemporary opera specialist, Anglo-German conductor Tim Anderson will make his Australian debut to guide the Opera Australia Orchestra through Dean’s immensely complex and astoundingly raw, visceral score comprising electronic music and cinema-like surround sound effects.
Known as the ‘tortured tenor’ due to his extraordinary performances, British tenor Allan Clayton will reprise the demanding title role opposite homegrown soprano Lorina Gore singing her spellbinding Helpmann-winning performance as Ophelia and tour-de-force American baritone Rod Gilfry as Claudius.
Australian mezzo soprano Catherine Carby makes a welcome return to OA to make her role debut as Gertrude alongside an outstanding local cast and the Opera Australia Chorus, while Scottish accordionist James Crabb will join to perform the part written specifically for him.
Conductor: Tim Anderson | Director: Neil Armfield | Featuring: Allan Clayton, Lorina Gore, Rod Gilfry, Catherine Carby, Kanen Breen, Samuel Dundas, Jud Arthur, Nicholas Jones, Russell Harcourt, Christopher Lowrey, Andrew Moran, Virgilio Marino, Iain Henderson, James Crabb, Opera Australia Chorus, Opera Australia Orchestra | Set Designer: Ralph Myers | Costume Designer: Alice Babidge | Lighting Designer: Jon Clark | Sound Designer: Bob Scott | Lighting Realisation: Peter Harrison | Movement Director: Denni Sayers | Assistant Director: Eugene Lynch | Fight Director: Nigel Poulton | Assistant Fight Director: Tim Dashwood | Intimacy Director: Chloe Dallimore | Music: Brett Dean | Libretto: Matthew Jocelyn after William Shakespeare
Hamlet
Joan Sutherland Theatre – Sydney Opera House, Bennelong Point, Sydney
Season: 20 July – 9 August 2024
Information and Bookings: www.opera.org.au
Image: Rod Gilfry as Claudius in Hamlet – photo by Keith Saunders