THE COMMISSION
Composer: Elspeth Brooke
Company: Aldeburgh Music and Royal Opera House
Director: Annabel Arden
Designs and video content: Joanna Parker
Libretto: Jack Underwood
Video and projection design: Dick Straker
Lighting design: Matt Haskins
Sound Design; Peter Malkin
Design associate: Ana Sofia Londono
Set painted by Mark Spink for ROH
Photography: Robert Workman and Steve Cummisky
THE COMMISSION VIDEO LANGUAGE
The approach to the visual score evolved from the original steer given by Elspeth Brooke the composer. “The Commission” was in dialogue with itself as a composition though centred around a narrative and score that was to include live sound and through composed music. The original painting on the plywood was filmed and was re-played back onto itself during the performance. This unstable surface was layered with imagery of locusts and the filmed bodies of the two main protagonists. Imagery was driven by the score and the poetry written by Jack Underwood.