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FULL BLACK SAND (Na’ama Zisser) London 2013 James Hall, Caroline Kennedy, Nicolas Dwyer
Information on the Performance
- Work Title: Black Sand
- Composer: Zisser Na’ama
- Libretto: Samantha Newton Libretto Text, Libretto Index
- Venue & Opera Company: Riverside Studios, London, UK
- Recorded: August 3 & 4, 2013
- Type: Staged Opera Live
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THIS PERFORMANCE
Genesis
In April 2012, the SANDMAN – a horror operetta based on ETA Hoffman’s short story – was performed at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, directed by Stuart Barker. Whilst collaborating on this project, Samantha (words), Daniel (sound), Osnat (production) and Na’ama (music) found that there was a lot more to Hoffman’s dark text than could be effectively realised in a short operetta. BLACK SAND sees the development and growth of their original ideas into an opera.
Synopsis
Imagine the time right before you fall asleep, when you’re alone and your mind plays tricks on you. It is not what is seen, but what is heard: an opera singer’s voice electronically enhanced, an upbeat pop song transformed into a sadistic lullaby, a rock n’ roll passage ripped out of context giving us the uncanny feeling that everything is not quite right. BLACK SAND is set in a small suburban university town in 1950’s America; the kind of place where every house has a front lawn and everyone knows their neighbour’s business, where there are prep rallies and a pharmacy where teenagers gather on Friday nights to drink milk-‐shakes and coke-‐floats. An idyllic place where people are obsessed with being normal, being appropriate. Nathanael is an outsider in this town. Since his parents’ death he has been haunted by night terrors, by the Sandman. His biggest fear is to lose his mind and, in turn, his true love, Olympia – the most perfect American “teen-‐dream” girlfriend. Terrified and determined to keep his mind, Nathanael decides his only defence is to sleep forever. BLACK SAND is a horror opera about a man so reluctant to confront his fear that it destroys him and everything he loves.