The myth of the artist
The Hive
Dates
2006
World Premiere - Arts House
Melbourne
(August / September)
The Hive explores the creation and exploitation of the myth of the artist through the life and afterlife of English poet Rupert Brooke.
With great wit and irony, The Hive chronicles the terrible post-mortem swarming of the self-interested after Brooke’s death, with Brooke wandering through the opera as a hapless ghost commentating on the obscene manipulations of his work and estate.
Written in 1990 by Sam Sejavka, a man whose own life was immortalised in the 1987 film, Dogs in Space, The Hive won the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Drama in 1990 and was adapted into opera by brilliant young composer, Nicholas Vines.
Awards
- Winner Best Opera Production, Green Room Awards
- Winner Best Opera Direction, Helpmann Awards
Opera composed by
Nicholas VinesText by
Sam SejavkaDirected by
Douglas HortonMusic Director
Brett KellySet Design
Anna TregloanLighting Design
Paul JacksonPerformers
Anna Margolis, Sally Wilson, Michael Gillies Smith and Matthew Champion with SIMON MEADOWS as Rupert BrookeKeyboards
Mark Kruger and Daniel Yim