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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