ALIADOS / Opera
ALIADOS / Opera
The central scene originated in an image from the TV news: Margaret Thatcher's visit to Augusto Pinochet in 1999 in an apartment in London during the pre-trial detention of the old dictator accused of a crime against humanity. The relationship between the two of them goes back to there alliance during the Malouines war in 1982 that followed the occupation of those islands by Argentinian military who had made disappear thirty thousand people in that murderous conflict.
The show deploys itself around the gathering of those former allies. While Pinochet is on the edge of madness, Thatcher is losing memory and their dialogue is pregnant with those mental damages. The banality of their conversation around a cup of tea still reveals what brought those two figures of the "conservative revolution" together: the fight against communism, weapon, money... Pinochet accompanied by a young officer, Thatcher by a nurse, helping and assisting them during the whole meeting. Those characters have an ambiguous role, with a certain amount of sadism. As the only way for Pinochet to avoid the international justice is to plead senile dementia, the officer has for secret mission to convince him that he is crazy. On the other hand, Thatcher's nurse is trying to get her out of her amnesia by reminding her of the painful events of her life, like the anger of the miners she had evicted.
Apart from this Quatuor, a virtual hero, an anonymous soldier on an Argentinian warship is dreaming about becoming a deserter. His thoughts are expressed by the chant, on the video screen and through the mudulated sound of his voice, recorded in real-time and broadcast till it interferes with the official discourse.
Program
Sebastian Rivas ALIADOS, A Real Time Opera (2013)
Sebastian Rivas, music
Esteban Buch, libreto
Antoine Gindt, stage direction
Cast
Ensemble Multilatérale
Philippe Béziat, live video direction
IRCAM, computerized sound design
Léo Warynski, musical direction