Benjamien Lycke (composition) and Mien Bogaert (libretto)
SYNOPSIS
An important man has to make a difficult decision of great impact. Because his advisors keep annoying him and the case is very urgent, he decides to send everyone away. Pacing up and down his office, the man’s eye is suddenly caught by Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment, a novel he hasn’t read since his undergraduate days. When he starts reading the book, characters like the student Razumikhin and the detective Porfiry come to life and try to influence his upcoming decision. The man however ignores their concerns, considering himself a member of some higher category of man, having the right to decide on life and death. But then Sonya appears, a deeply faithful prostitute whose questions throw him completely off balance.
ABOUT
Can there be exceptions to the absolute prohibition against killing? And is it possible to turn off your conscience once and for all? Stream of consciousness, sea of blood is a 15 minutes opera scene for six singers and 15 instrumentalists by Benjamien Lycke (composition) and Mien Bogaert (libretto), commissioned by the Royal College of Music London and the Bill Bankes-Jones-founded opera company Tête à Tête. Together with five other Dostoyevsky-based opera scenes, STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS, SEA OF BLOOD (SOCSOB) was performed at the Britten Theatre London.
TEAM AND CAST
Conductor: Lionel Friend
Staging: Bill Bankes-Jones
Set and costumes: Sarah Booth
Lighting: Ralph Stokeld
President: Kieran Rayner
Adviser 1: Elizabeth Reeves
Adviser 2: Thobela Ntshanyana
Porfiri: Francis Gush
Razoemichin: Ben Smith
Sonja: Carly Owen
Instrumentalists from the Royal College of Music London
PERFORMANCES
Fridag, 20 May 2016, Britten Theatre London (GB)
Saturday, 21 May 2016, Britten Theatre London (GB)