Colleen Murphy and Aaron Gervais
The Enslavement and Liberation of Oksana G
True to her tri-creative nature,The December Man scribe is now working with Tapestry New Opera Works to finish the libretto for a five-act opera by composer Aaron Gervais
In 2005, Murphy began writing a libretto for composer Aaron Gervais entitled The Enslavement and Liberation of Oksana G.A short scene from the opera was performed in March 2006 as part of Tapestry New Opera Works Opera to Go series.
No stranger to Tapestry New Opera Works Murphy has worked with them for the past two summers and the Regent Park School of Music in their outreach program INside Opera – a place where young children work with a composer and librettist. Together they create and perform a five-minute opera.
In 2007,Colleen Murphy was invited by Tapestry to do a playwright's residency to finish Enslavement – a “huge epic structure.”
You are co- writing an opera called The Enslavement and Liberation of Oksana G?
"Yes. It's set in 1995 and built on sex trafficking. A young woman from outside Odessa and her friend get lured into a prostitution ring and then the pimp – a Russian – falls in love with her, unexpectedly and of course she tries to escape his clutches and she ends up in Italy at a safe house. It becomes a ménage a trois. Because it is also in the traditional opera; in that tragic form, there’s a ménage a trois between the priest who loves her and she likes him and then Constantine the pimp who is constantly stalking her because that’s what they do and it can only end in tragedy."
Of course …
"It’s a big piece. It’s five acts with a prologue and an epilogue. I have been working on this with Tapestry New Opera Works and an Edmonton-born composer Aaron Gervais.
Gosh, it will be a few more years before it’s done. I just thought to take the traditional form of opera which is a very powerful form and tell a story that is very modern. It’s both a character driven dramatic story but also very relevant in terms of something that is going on in the world."
Opera can be very powerful. I can see Dead Man Walking adapted for operatic form, but I am still wondering about the operatic treatment of Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire.
"I am still thinking why bother? Streetcar is such a beautifully text-based play that you would have to chop it down to do the libretto. I think if you took the essence of the story it would probably be great but that’s not so easy to do. I just think there are lots of other things you can write about without feeling that’s something’s already done."
In the final part of this series, Colleen Murphy chats about her Three Muses.
Colleen Murphy's The December Man (L'homme de décembre) opens April 7 at Canadian Stage Company's Berkeley Street Theatre and runs to May 17.
