Industrial Gothic
The Fall of the House of Usher
Dates
30 August - 1 September 1990
Venue
Merlyn Theatre, Malthouse
Instrumentation sop., ten., bar., bass, 2 vlns., vla., vlc., cb., fl/picc., cl., bn., hn., synth., guit., perc.
The melancholic house of Usher is the backdrop to a world in decay. The peculiar feeling of desolation, loneliness, melancholy and purposelessness, that ‘abject dreariness’ that Edgar Allen POE knew so well, takes on a strangely beautiful, mesmerising quality in Glass’ operatic version. Here Poe meets the present in a kind of ‘Industrial Gothic’, his moody minimalism charting Roderick Usher’s enigmatic demise.
“… A Masterpiece in Melbourne …”
Australian Premiere Merlyn Theatre, Melbourne, August 1990.
Directed by
Douglas HortonComposed by
Phillip GlassText by
Arthur Yorinkls (after Edgar Allen Poe)Stage Design by
Trina Parker and Wiggy BrennanLighting Design by
David Murray