Lab Outcomes
An Opera?
 


An extract from a proposal by Bill Bankes-Jones ‘Opera and Knitting in Shetland’ 3.3.04

I am a London based freelance opera and theatre director, as well as artistic director of Tête à Tête
(http://www.nataliesteedproductions.co.uk/tete-a-tete/TeteATete.html)
" a useful small-scale opera company, dedicated to breaking the rules and exploring the fringes. We need
more of such spirit in today's cautious cultural atmosphere,"
Rupert Christiansen, Daily Telegraph, February 2004

The purpose of my recent very successful visit to Shetland as a guest of On the Edge has been to explore and assess the possibility of innovative approaches to knitting incorporating the medium of opera. Maybe the clearest expression of this possibility came in conversation with the Shetland knitter, Elizabeth Johnston. Having heard all about her own interests and
explained my own, I said to her 'so how do you think I could be of use to you?' Her reply was 'make knitting cool'.

A possible project

The Odyssey: existing plans
Remarkably, through Tête à Tête, we've already commissioned a work that happened to have knitting written into its first manifestation before any
involvement with Shetland was even dreamed of. Our Associate Composer, Julian Grant, seized on the idea of adapting Homer's Odyssey with librettist and playwright Hattie Naylor, WHOSE EXISITNG STAGE ADAPTATION remarkably includes a group of "Fates" who knit continuously on stage throughout the performance.

The Odyssey: potential for collaboration with Shetland
Given the co-incidental inclusion of knitters in Naylor's stage adaptation of the Odyssey, it seems a very natural choice to use Shetland knitters to play these rôles.

Ideally this would then lead to a small band of knitters (say 6) as part of the final company, performing both in Shetland and around the country and maybe internationally on the final tour.

We might also ask each of ten schools to work with a indigenous knitter and probably Shetland-based project manager to create a giant Shetland lace shawl, maybe 25 metres wide that might be used as scenery, flooring, or best of all in an interactive way to represent sea, caves, sky, or nets.

The third and final strand of the project might be the completion of the final phase: rehearsing and premiering the fully fledged production in Shetland.

My conclusion from this visit is that opera and knitting each have more areas of common ground than I could have envisaged beforehand and that to engage in some deeper, more two-way collaboration might well be of great value.

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