Theatre visit

The production of When a Man Knows took a step further last week when the director, Ian Caddy, and I visited the Bridewell Theatre for the first time. I have seen productions there, but some years ago; in 2001 I saw Tete a Tete there, giving one of their evenings of short 1-act operas. An evening memorable, partly because in the cast was Damian Thantrey, the baritone who went on to play the title role in my opera Garrett (in fact we were there to hear him for this reason).

Remarkably, Bridewell Theatre is in an old swimming pool, it is a sort of rectangular space and there is a balcony all around the playing area. It will make an admirable abandoned ware-house. There isn't a pit, of course, the band (4 instruments including piano) will be to one side of the stage. The balcony is held up with cast iron pillars, which gives the possibility of actually being able to chain up the male protagonist which is something the libretto calls for.

The dust having settled after 21st August's performance, I have now started the process of revising the opera. This process should taughten in dramatically, but also make some passages clearer for the singers. At least that's the idea at the moment!