PUCK

Benjamien Lycke, Mahlon Berv (composition) and Laura Attridge (libretto)
puck

SYNOPSIS

Titania and Oberon, the CEOs of a trending internet company, are about to launch a new and revolutionary dating app, called PUCK. However, as a couple, Titania and Oberon are experiencing serious relationship problems. After being humiliated by Titania in front of the entire company staff, Oberon feels obliged to resign. He inflicts revenge on Titania by hacking PUCK and reprogramming the dating app, so that Titania, running a test version of the app, falls in love with anything and anyone she comes across. Travelling home on the London Underground, Oberon witnesses the arguing of four young adults: Helena, Demetrius, Hermia and Lysander. Trying to make them happy again, he decides to launch the app. But PUCK suddenly gets a life on its own …

ABOUT

PUCK, a light-hearted opera comedy for six singers and a full-size orchestra, is the result of an intense collaboration between the composers Benjamien Lycke (BE) and Mahlon Berv (USA). The libretto by Laura Attridge (GB) reimagines Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream within contemporary London. The forest is replaced by the city’s Underground and human love is controlled not by magic, but by technological devices, raising the question to what extent technology is influencing or even manipulating essential life choices. PUCK premiered in the Amaryllis Fleming Concert Hall of the Royal College of Music London. Part of the staging were a live drawn set and a choreography for five dancers, a parody about how technology modifies our body language.

TEAM AND CAST

Conductor: Benjamien Lycke
Staging: Mien Bogaert
Choreography: Talitha De Decker
Graphics and video: Eva Wagner
Executive producer: Irina Jibert

Oberon: Samuel Oram
Titania: Ellie Penfold
Lysander: Fearghal Curtis
Helena: Natasha Day
Demetrius: Jacob Bettinelli
Hermia: Lauren Libaw

Dancers: Talitha De Decker, Emilie De Roo, Amerigo Delli Bove, Jade Derudder, Jens Slootmans

Instrumentalists from the Royal College of Music London

PERFORMANCES

Thursday 17 March 2016, Amaryllis Fleming Concert Hall (GB)

ACUBENS
Installation, Opera
ACUBENS
TINKLING I
Dance, Installation
TINKLING I
Arc de L’Europe
Installation
Arc de L’Europe
OPSTAND
Opera
OPSTAND
CYCLOPS
Opera
CYCLOPS
PUCK
Dance, Opera
PUCK
PEER GYNT
PEER GYNT
MONU
Dance, Installation, Opera
MONU
The Liquid Wall
Installation
The Liquid Wall
SOCSOB
Opera
SOCSOB