‘Clocks 1888: the greener’ is a ground-breaking new opera set inside a magical world of Clocks in the year 1888. At the heart of the story is ‘the greener’ – a term that was used at the time for a newly arrived foreign immigrant.
This is a powerful love story featuring a critically acclaimed cast including Patricia Rozario OBE (English National Opera) and Keisha Atwell (Memphis The Musical). Themes of immigration, heritage, culture and diversity underpin the narrative and are as relevant today as they were back in 1888.
The opera draws on musical theatre, music hall and the Asian classical tradition ‘Clocks 1888: the greener’ and will feature a multi-cultural cast to reflect its setting in diverse East London.
Rozario, an acclaimed Asian opera singer, plays Ma, an Indian nanny who has been brought over from India by an English family in the days of the Raj but has been abandoned in London. Unable to return home she ends up destitute in the East End and has to sew handkerchiefs to earn a living of sorts.
On playing Ma, Rozario said: ‘Apart from being an older woman Ma is not so different from other maids in opera like “Susanna” in the “Marriage of Figaro” or “Despina” in “Cosi fan Tutte”; both Mozart operas. Like them, Ma has a lively character, strong will and an instinctive wisdom.’
“Clocks 1888: the greener” opens in April 2016 and will tour to CAST, Doncaster (15-16 April) and Hackney Empire, London (20 – 22nd April).
Watch the trailer below:
