Double Trouble: Shadwell Opera in Schoenberg and Turnage

Shadwell Opera is presenting a double bill of mono-dramas at Hackney Showroom, Amhurst Terrace, London E8 2BT, on 4 and 5 November 2016. Madeleine Pierard and Kate Howden will star as the female protagonists in Schoenberg's Erwartung and Mark Anthony Turnage's Twice Through The Heart, both pieces dealing with psychological journey of an isolated woman, alone on stage, directed by Jack Furness and associate director Celine Lowenthal, and conducted by Finnegan Downie Dear.

Schoenberg's Erwartung was written in 1909 with a libretto by Marie Pappenheim, but had to wait until 1924 to receive its first performance when Alexander Zemlinsky conducted it in Prague. Schoenberg said of the work 'In Erwartung the aim is to represent in slow motion everything that occurs during a single second of maximum spiritual excitement, stretching it out to half an hour'. Mark Anthony Turnage's Twice Through The Heart was written between 1994 and 1996, and revised subsequently and received its first performance in 1997. The libretto by Jackie Kay is based on a 1992 poetry documentary which she had written for the BBC.

Full details from the Shadwell Opera website .