Industrial Gothic
The Fall of the House of Usher
Dates
1990
Australian Premiere - Malthouse Theatre
Melbourne
(August / September)
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 …”
Instrumentation sop., ten., bar., bass, 2 vlns., vla., vlc., cb., fl/picc., cl., bn., hn., synth., guit., perc.
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