The Mute Canary
June 26, 2019
National Theatre | Národní 2, 110 00 Nové Město, Prague, Czechia
The SCA's Owen Underhill will be leading the Prague Modern Ensemble for a performance of Rudolf Komorous' The Mute Canary at the historic National Theatre in Prague, Czech Republic, featuring Anne Grimm, Alex Dobson, and Daniel Cabena.
Based on a 1919 dada play by Georges Ribemont-Dessaignes, this ‘dada opera’ is in one-act, featuring three isolated characters with multi-personalities – a despotic baritone, Riquet, (Alexander Dobson) who can only be described as Trumpian in his manic delusions, a soprano Barate (Anne Grimm) who represents the power of love, and a countertenor Ochre, (Daniel Cabena) who is a samurai warrior believed to be the composer Charles Gounod. Ochre is the keeper of the mute canary.
Born in 1931 in Prague, Czechoslovakia, Rudolf Komorous served as Director of the SFU School for the Contemporary Arts from 1989 to 1994, retiring to Victoria in 1996.