0:00:15 > 0:00:19This year marks the 70th birthday of Welsh National Opera.
0:00:19 > 0:00:22It's also the centenary of the Battle of the Somme.
0:00:27 > 0:00:30The company's artistic director marked both occasions
0:00:30 > 0:00:32by commissioning a brand-new opera.
0:00:32 > 0:00:35New operas are very big things to put on.
0:00:35 > 0:00:39It's a big... You know, it's a big baby to take a risk with.
0:00:39 > 0:00:42As with any new work, there are elements of risk involved
0:00:42 > 0:00:47but, you know, it has to be that way, it has to be a living art form.
0:00:47 > 0:00:50I think you've got to allow creative people their head to do that
0:00:50 > 0:00:54and, you know, yes, there'll be plenty of discussion.
0:00:56 > 0:01:01The new work is based on the epic First World War poem In Parenthesis
0:01:01 > 0:01:04by writer, painter and calligrapher David Jones.
0:01:05 > 0:01:09His typography inspired the lettering on the Wales Millennium Centre,
0:01:09 > 0:01:13where the much-anticipated production opened in May.
0:01:13 > 0:01:14Reaching the stage was the culmination
0:01:14 > 0:01:17of some three years' work.
0:01:17 > 0:01:19We were allowed behind the scenes
0:01:19 > 0:01:22to reveal what goes into making a new opera.
0:01:23 > 0:01:27In Parenthesis somehow tapped me on the shoulder as a subject.
0:01:27 > 0:01:31Emma Jenkins got in touch with me and said she and her husband
0:01:31 > 0:01:34had been working on this David Jones text, In Parenthesis,
0:01:34 > 0:01:38and they were thinking that it might need music,
0:01:38 > 0:01:40and did I have any ideas?
0:01:40 > 0:01:44David gave me this book in 1990.
0:01:44 > 0:01:47And it was so that we had twin copies.
0:01:47 > 0:01:48Twins, like that.
0:01:50 > 0:01:52We'd have been preparing for our finals at the time.
0:01:52 > 0:01:54It was on my birthday.
0:01:54 > 0:02:01This is the very copy that I, as you can see, have heavily annotated,
0:02:01 > 0:02:04for the writing of the libretto.
0:02:04 > 0:02:08For me, it's always about having a clear overview of structure
0:02:08 > 0:02:11before anything else, and of simple storytelling.
0:02:11 > 0:02:14Whereas I have a lot of emotional attachment to a lot of the detail
0:02:14 > 0:02:16in the book. So we worked out a process where,
0:02:16 > 0:02:20if we tried to work in the same room together it wouldn't be productive,
0:02:20 > 0:02:22probably a recipe for divorce.
0:02:22 > 0:02:26Because it's written by a painter, the poem's so visual.
0:02:26 > 0:02:29It's like a series of storyboards.
0:02:29 > 0:02:32We see the group of young men at the start
0:02:32 > 0:02:34of their basic training in England.
0:02:34 > 0:02:39They then embark towards France, where they make their way south
0:02:39 > 0:02:41towards the Somme and then to Mametz,
0:02:41 > 0:02:46where they almost in their entirety meet their death.
0:02:46 > 0:02:48But in the course of that story,
0:02:48 > 0:02:55he is moving from a very realistic presentation of their experience
0:02:55 > 0:02:58through to more and more interconnectedness
0:02:58 > 0:03:00with the sort of mythical dimensions,
0:03:00 > 0:03:03which is really what the poem is actually about.
0:03:03 > 0:03:07World War I soldiers will suddenly morph into becoming
0:03:07 > 0:03:09sixth-century warriors of Gododdin,
0:03:09 > 0:03:12or Agincourt, or Arthur's knights, even.
0:03:12 > 0:03:17So we found a subject, a libretto and quite shortly after that...
0:03:19 > 0:03:24..Iain Bell wrote to me and sent me some of his music and, you know,
0:03:24 > 0:03:28I just somehow felt the whole thing had kind of fallen into place.
0:03:28 > 0:03:30So lovely to see you.
0:03:30 > 0:03:32Still in his mid-30s,
0:03:32 > 0:03:35Iain Bell is a rising young star in the opera world.
0:03:35 > 0:03:38Following works in Vienna and Houston,
0:03:38 > 0:03:40In Parenthesis will be his third opera.
0:03:41 > 0:03:44Before Iain wrote a note of music,
0:03:44 > 0:03:48we sat down in the Southbank Centre over a series of very long meetings.
0:03:48 > 0:03:51The purpose of the meetings at point wasn't to do any kind of fashioning
0:03:51 > 0:03:53of the libretto, it had been done.
0:03:53 > 0:03:57It was purely and simply to help me understand it.
0:03:57 > 0:04:00Understand the parallel worlds that are running alongside in the opera.
0:04:00 > 0:04:05- Exactly.- The mythical world running alongside the temporal, real world.
0:04:05 > 0:04:08To be able to create a Celtic Arthurian sound world,
0:04:08 > 0:04:10it is just too much to resist.
0:04:10 > 0:04:14So I started writing January 2014.
0:04:14 > 0:04:17I start from the beginning, I start from word one, page one,
0:04:17 > 0:04:23and I write a very, very basic piano vocal score.
0:04:23 > 0:04:26I do the digital equivalent of writing it on manuscript paper.
0:04:26 > 0:04:28SYNTHESISED MUSIC PLAYS
0:04:31 > 0:04:35And then I revisit the piece and then I start orchestrating it.
0:04:40 > 0:04:44I work eight hours, seven - eight hours a day when I'm writing, so...
0:04:46 > 0:04:50Two minutes of music, yeah, is kind of what I get out of a day's work.
0:04:50 > 0:04:54The next stage is very simple, it's engaging the design team.
0:04:54 > 0:04:57And in this case that's just one person,
0:04:57 > 0:04:59which is Robert Innes Hopkins.
0:04:59 > 0:05:02You obviously start with reference material,
0:05:02 > 0:05:05conversations with the director, bouncing around ideas.
0:05:05 > 0:05:08You don't think we want to do something green?
0:05:08 > 0:05:11Yes, we do. Something huge...
0:05:12 > 0:05:14..which can come down and...
0:05:14 > 0:05:17Richie sings a lot through this last scene.
0:05:17 > 0:05:18It's not going to be that easy.
0:05:18 > 0:05:21Well, there's a way of linking her to it.
0:05:21 > 0:05:25The climax of both the book and the opera takes place in a wood -
0:05:25 > 0:05:27Mametz Wood,
0:05:27 > 0:05:30the site of one of the earliest and most destructive battles
0:05:30 > 0:05:32of the Somme Offensive.
0:05:32 > 0:05:35The Royal Welch Fusiliers suffered massive casualties.
0:05:35 > 0:05:38Over 1,000 men were killed in two days.
0:05:38 > 0:05:40David Jones was among the wounded.
0:05:44 > 0:05:48It's an iconic spot for people who remember Welsh history.
0:05:54 > 0:05:57Robert Innes Hopkins and I planned as part of our work on the opera
0:05:57 > 0:06:00actually to go and visit Mametz Wood.
0:06:00 > 0:06:02The Germans were actually in retreat.
0:06:02 > 0:06:04The next phase was to come down through here,
0:06:04 > 0:06:07which is why thought we should walk this way because this is where he...
0:06:07 > 0:06:09You know, this is exactly where he went.
0:06:09 > 0:06:13It was an extraordinary thing to get a feeling for the landscape,
0:06:13 > 0:06:15which is clearly described in the poem.
0:06:17 > 0:06:20Walking into the wood and finding the trench,
0:06:20 > 0:06:22which is on David Jones's map...
0:06:22 > 0:06:27The trench is still clearly visible 100 years later and there are still
0:06:27 > 0:06:29bits of unexploded artillery lying around,
0:06:29 > 0:06:33so you can feel that the whole thing is still there, really.
0:06:33 > 0:06:36The iPhone meets a 100-year-old shell.
0:06:41 > 0:06:43So he's just walked into the wood...
0:06:45 > 0:06:48..and then he says,
0:06:48 > 0:06:52"All alone in the deepest shades, caught between Rowan and Hazel,
0:06:52 > 0:06:58"Foxes are fleeing, unicorns break cover, the warrens are in shock.
0:06:58 > 0:07:02"The birds cry out as their nests fall like stars
0:07:02 > 0:07:05"And their airy world's gone crazed."
0:07:07 > 0:07:09While the design process continues,
0:07:09 > 0:07:12Iain Bell keeps in touch with the singers.
0:07:12 > 0:07:13Bidlack.
0:07:13 > 0:07:16The central character, Private John Ball,
0:07:16 > 0:07:18will be sung by Andrew Bidlack,
0:07:18 > 0:07:21who is making his debut at New York's Metropolitan Opera.
0:07:21 > 0:07:24So, would you like me to send you the MP3 of the piano?
0:07:24 > 0:07:26My teacher's here and once things...
0:07:26 > 0:07:29Things are very intense right now at the Met,
0:07:29 > 0:07:33but once they settle down I'm going to see him and there's
0:07:33 > 0:07:37certain parts that I really want to work on, especially vocally.
0:07:37 > 0:07:39Yeah.
0:07:39 > 0:07:42Like the aria. It's a long line and an ascending arc
0:07:42 > 0:07:45through the whole thing and then in, out through the passaggio,
0:07:45 > 0:07:48and that is something you just want to have a plan for
0:07:48 > 0:07:50and know exactly what you're doing in it.
0:07:50 > 0:07:53The character of John Ball sings almost nonstop from start to finish.
0:07:53 > 0:07:56It is the triathlon of a role.
0:07:56 > 0:08:00It's a huge challenge for the tenor.
0:08:00 > 0:08:07# The birds cry out as their nests fall like stars
0:08:07 > 0:08:13# Their airy world's gone crazed... #
0:08:13 > 0:08:16We didn't want to represent the First World War
0:08:16 > 0:08:18in any kind of realistic way.
0:08:18 > 0:08:20I think I had had this thought
0:08:20 > 0:08:23that the whole thing could be taking place in a, like,
0:08:23 > 0:08:26a little Welsh chapel somewhere.
0:08:26 > 0:08:28We have that with the details of the two windows.
0:08:28 > 0:08:31The ladies' chorus would be up on the upper chapel
0:08:31 > 0:08:34and it allows them to be looking down into the pit
0:08:34 > 0:08:36where the story's telling.
0:08:36 > 0:08:41We have this piece, which sits as a header for most of the opera,
0:08:41 > 0:08:46but flies in slowly and gives us our trench.
0:08:46 > 0:08:50So Paul will crawl up and will be inside the war memorial and this is
0:08:50 > 0:08:54happening at a point in the opera where it's Christmas day,
0:08:54 > 0:08:56the German trenches are singing.
0:08:58 > 0:09:00MAN SINGS IN GERMAN
0:09:10 > 0:09:13The back of sets is always the most interesting part because then
0:09:13 > 0:09:15you can see how stuff's working.
0:09:15 > 0:09:19And the trench itself is stuck on the back of what is otherwise
0:09:19 > 0:09:23a set of flat frames. And so I literally assemble
0:09:23 > 0:09:27a virtual version of this thing,
0:09:27 > 0:09:31I put the boltholes on, get the pieces next to each other,
0:09:31 > 0:09:33check the boltholes are all lining up.
0:09:33 > 0:09:37Then I've also got to make sure this piece doesn't sag
0:09:37 > 0:09:39when it's being climbed on.
0:09:39 > 0:09:42So, these are the walls for the set for In Parenthesis.
0:09:42 > 0:09:45So there's a stained kind of wood feel to it,
0:09:45 > 0:09:48a richness like you would find in a chapel wooden wall,
0:09:48 > 0:09:51and then there's going to be some planks. So they're going to look
0:09:51 > 0:09:56a little bit more distressed, like in a First World War trench.
0:09:56 > 0:10:00The finished design has been under construction but the final phase,
0:10:00 > 0:10:04the sort of six-week rehearsal phase, begins this morning.
0:10:04 > 0:10:07Welcome to the launch of In Parenthesis,
0:10:07 > 0:10:12a very exciting and wonderful project.
0:10:12 > 0:10:13Does anyone have any questions?
0:10:16 > 0:10:18- Why not? - LAUGHTER
0:10:18 > 0:10:21I've got a big question - how the hell do we put this on the stage?
0:10:21 > 0:10:23I guess we're going to find out!
0:10:24 > 0:10:28# Get on parade! Get on parade!
0:10:32 > 0:10:34# Oh, God, late again!
0:10:34 > 0:10:36# Christ, I'm sorry, so sorry
0:10:36 > 0:10:40# Need to look where I'm bloody well going.
0:10:40 > 0:10:42# Oh, Christ
0:10:42 > 0:10:45# It's Sergeant Snell. #
0:10:45 > 0:10:48Usually, all the really big decisions get made
0:10:48 > 0:10:55in the first two weeks of rehearsal, so it's a very important time.
0:10:55 > 0:10:58At the moment we're both sort of freezing whilst the bard is singing.
0:10:58 > 0:11:00- Is that...? - Yeah, I think that's right.
0:11:00 > 0:11:02I think that... Listen, I'm feeling my way
0:11:02 > 0:11:07with how we deal with madness, outbreaks, bards intervening.
0:11:07 > 0:11:11You know, it's a kind of... But let's say you...
0:11:11 > 0:11:15The last time I saw David was at my audition a year ago and...
0:11:16 > 0:11:18So we're working together for the first time.
0:11:18 > 0:11:21- You don't need to overplay this.- OK.
0:11:21 > 0:11:24I think we need to introduce people gradually to this idea
0:11:24 > 0:11:29that from time to time we get all these inner thoughts.
0:11:29 > 0:11:30Sure.
0:11:30 > 0:11:37John Ball is a young, clumsy, Frank Spencer-like boy of 17, maybe.
0:11:37 > 0:11:39When he has these visions,
0:11:39 > 0:11:42I've got the opportunity to explore the Rossini tenor.
0:11:42 > 0:11:46So this is a tenor voice that's capable of flurried coloratura movements,
0:11:46 > 0:11:48which can be very thrilling.
0:11:49 > 0:11:53# The houndsman is wielding his horn
0:11:53 > 0:11:57# My ear on the ground
0:11:57 > 0:12:01# I feel a breath of dogs... #
0:12:02 > 0:12:07But in Act One he has an aria, For All The Fear In This Dark Night,
0:12:07 > 0:12:09and it's all on the legato.
0:12:09 > 0:12:11It's all very long-winded phrases...
0:12:14 > 0:12:18..that require a stillness and a young Mozartian tenor sound.
0:12:18 > 0:12:21More elegant lines.
0:12:21 > 0:12:29# For all the fear
0:12:30 > 0:12:37# In this dark night... #
0:12:39 > 0:12:43Really use the word "fear" and "dark night".
0:12:43 > 0:12:44I think you want to get...
0:12:44 > 0:12:50- You want to get a darker sense in the first two phrases.- OK.
0:12:50 > 0:12:56So that you can really expand with the sense of blessedness.
0:12:56 > 0:13:00- OK.- You see what I mean? That should be the growth through the line.
0:13:08 > 0:13:16# For all the fear... #
0:13:16 > 0:13:21A large part of the acting of an opera singer
0:13:21 > 0:13:26is the way in which they treat the articulation of the words.
0:13:26 > 0:13:33How you say "for all the fear in that dark night",
0:13:33 > 0:13:39how you use those words in your singing voice is kind of, probably,
0:13:39 > 0:13:4160% of the acting.
0:13:41 > 0:13:49# There is a kind of blessedness. #
0:13:52 > 0:13:55This was John Ball's big aria that I was getting ready to take
0:13:55 > 0:13:57to my teacher in New York.
0:13:57 > 0:14:00Now we're building another piece to the puzzle of the complete picture
0:14:00 > 0:14:02each time we work on it.
0:14:02 > 0:14:05I think I unfortunately caught a little bit of a head cold
0:14:05 > 0:14:07on the plane so I'm kind of in a fog today.
0:14:07 > 0:14:15# There is a kind of blessedness... #
0:14:18 > 0:14:21We've staged already more than half of act one
0:14:21 > 0:14:24by the morning of day three, so we're moving right along here.
0:14:24 > 0:14:28# Mae bys Meri-Ann wedi brifo
0:14:28 > 0:14:31# A Dafydd y gwas ddim yn iach... #
0:14:31 > 0:14:33In the opening scene of act two,
0:14:33 > 0:14:37John Ball's platoon bursts into Iain Bell's arrangement of a song popular
0:14:37 > 0:14:39with the Welsh Regiment during the First World War,
0:14:39 > 0:14:42the traditional Sosban Fach.
0:14:42 > 0:14:47'The singing of this song becomes for Ball a hallucinatory experience.'
0:14:47 > 0:14:50What I was... What I was thinking of doing was...
0:14:51 > 0:14:55..that we start the song off and then when we get
0:14:55 > 0:14:57into the second verse, or whatever it is,
0:14:57 > 0:15:01we kind of get up and we're all going to come onto the platform.
0:15:01 > 0:15:08Ball is left there on his own and we, like, become a sort of...
0:15:08 > 0:15:10You know, a sort of rugby crowd.
0:15:10 > 0:15:15And you've all coalesced into this phalanx and we're kind of...
0:15:17 > 0:15:19Oi, oi!
0:15:20 > 0:15:24And he thinks, "Oh, God, they're going to actually kill me."
0:15:24 > 0:15:25Oi, oi!
0:15:25 > 0:15:27That was nice, wasn't it?
0:15:29 > 0:15:31I'll have another beer, thank you.
0:15:31 > 0:15:33He's so relaxed. He gives you the impression of winging it,
0:15:33 > 0:15:37but actually he knows exactly what he's doing all the time.
0:15:37 > 0:15:40If you can have the confidence to know
0:15:40 > 0:15:44that you're going to find a way through,
0:15:44 > 0:15:50but you find your way through in the moment of doing it,
0:15:50 > 0:15:53I think that's a much more creative way of working and it just helps
0:15:53 > 0:15:57everybody to feel that they're also part of that.
0:15:57 > 0:15:58Oi, oi!
0:15:58 > 0:16:03# A'r gath wedi sgrapo Joni bach. #
0:16:05 > 0:16:06Oi! Oi!
0:16:07 > 0:16:10# It's time for another one. Won't you? #
0:16:11 > 0:16:14The appointment of David Pountney as artistic director
0:16:14 > 0:16:16was a fantastic one for Welsh National Opera.
0:16:16 > 0:16:21He brings a depth and intelligence and an understanding of opera
0:16:21 > 0:16:22as entertainment.
0:16:22 > 0:16:23If anybody were to ask me, you know,
0:16:23 > 0:16:25"Why did you appoint David Pountney?"
0:16:25 > 0:16:26The answer would have to be,
0:16:26 > 0:16:29"Why would you not appoint David Pountney?"
0:16:29 > 0:16:32You know, David came to us in 2011.
0:16:32 > 0:16:37He was a world figure, he had been director of productions at ENO,
0:16:37 > 0:16:38at Scottish Opera.
0:16:38 > 0:16:42He had an extraordinary distinguished freelance career.
0:16:42 > 0:16:45He'd been running the Bregenz Festival in Austria.
0:16:45 > 0:16:51But I think what impressed me at the time when I first met David,
0:16:51 > 0:16:55I was asking the question, "Why does David actually want to do it?"
0:16:55 > 0:16:57In a way, I think it was sort of payback time.
0:16:57 > 0:17:00I thought, you know, I've learnt an awful lot about
0:17:00 > 0:17:03how this all works
0:17:03 > 0:17:07and maybe I could bring some of that back to a British company.
0:17:07 > 0:17:10We've done more new work in the last five years
0:17:10 > 0:17:12than we had done in the previous 20.
0:17:12 > 0:17:16The tradition over the past 70 years has been basically
0:17:16 > 0:17:19one new work every decade
0:17:19 > 0:17:23and I think we've sort of moved it up to one new work,
0:17:23 > 0:17:26on average, every year,
0:17:26 > 0:17:28which is closer to what I think it ought to be.
0:17:28 > 0:17:31When you're kind of doing more new work, it means new sets
0:17:31 > 0:17:34and more different, kind of, technical elements that we need.
0:17:35 > 0:17:37But I think it really excites us.
0:17:37 > 0:17:38It invigorates us.
0:17:38 > 0:17:41To advise on the military aspects of the production,
0:17:41 > 0:17:45David Pountney brings in Lieutenant General Jonathon Riley.
0:17:45 > 0:17:47- Shall I just demonstrate what you're going to do?- Yes.
0:17:47 > 0:17:51He's from David Jones's old regiment, the Royal Welch Fusiliers.
0:17:51 > 0:17:52I'll just do it for you.
0:17:52 > 0:17:55Taking the weight with the right hand, bring it across the body
0:17:55 > 0:17:57and put it onto the left shoulder,
0:17:57 > 0:18:00and with the left hand catch it under the butt.
0:18:00 > 0:18:03Another short pause and bring the right hand to the side.
0:18:04 > 0:18:06OK? So, shall we just try that?
0:18:06 > 0:18:07Platoon.
0:18:09 > 0:18:10Pause.
0:18:15 > 0:18:16No, it's... Yeah.
0:18:16 > 0:18:17The other left.
0:18:19 > 0:18:23And on the word of command, "march", the left foot goes.
0:18:23 > 0:18:24OK, that's the executive.
0:18:24 > 0:18:26Is it possible not to say, "Left, left, left, right, left?"
0:18:26 > 0:18:29"Can you say left, right, left, right?"
0:18:29 > 0:18:32Because we're not the American army, you see.
0:18:32 > 0:18:36This has been pretty detailedly composed, unfortunately.
0:18:36 > 0:18:39So we are in the American army!
0:18:39 > 0:18:41Sorry about that!
0:18:41 > 0:18:43# Left! Left! Left, right, left!
0:18:43 > 0:18:47# Left! Left! Left, right, left! #
0:19:00 > 0:19:04This rare footage of David Jones has never been shown before.
0:19:04 > 0:19:08He spoke in a nursing home a year before his death in 1974.
0:19:10 > 0:19:12Two strokes had badly affected his speech,
0:19:12 > 0:19:14but not his mental faculties.
0:19:15 > 0:19:19Though he rose to prominence as both an artist and poet in later years,
0:19:19 > 0:19:22the war never really left David Jones.
0:19:22 > 0:19:26He saw more active service than any of the other war writers
0:19:26 > 0:19:30and unlike most of them, he remained a private.
0:19:30 > 0:19:34In his later life and work he would explore the meaning of wars
0:19:34 > 0:19:35for the common soldier.
0:19:47 > 0:19:53David Jones was very disturbed by the experiences that he'd had
0:19:53 > 0:19:57and it took him, basically, 18 years to get round
0:19:57 > 0:20:00to trying to write down what this meant.
0:20:00 > 0:20:05He understood every soldier standing in shitty clothes
0:20:05 > 0:20:08with his feet wet eating lousy food
0:20:08 > 0:20:11as the same bloke who was at Agincourt,
0:20:11 > 0:20:14the same bloke who was with Alexander,
0:20:14 > 0:20:17caught up in these massive forces
0:20:17 > 0:20:23that are like the clash of great ancient mythological powers.
0:20:23 > 0:20:29My hope is music will help the text to appeal to many more people.
0:20:29 > 0:20:31OK, all right?
0:20:31 > 0:20:33Off we go. Platoon.
0:20:35 > 0:20:37And up...
0:20:37 > 0:20:40and over...
0:20:40 > 0:20:42and down.
0:20:42 > 0:20:45When he finished to say "Number Seven Platoon",
0:20:45 > 0:20:49physically it's in four but you will do,
0:20:49 > 0:20:51you know, boom, first movement,
0:20:51 > 0:20:53three,
0:20:53 > 0:20:55two, one.
0:20:55 > 0:20:56- So this is sort of...- Yeah.
0:20:56 > 0:21:03So it's one and two and three and four.
0:21:03 > 0:21:05Firstly you start with the singers
0:21:05 > 0:21:08and then comes the moment with the orchestra.
0:21:08 > 0:21:13The first orchestra rehearsal is a remarkable occasion.
0:21:13 > 0:21:16These sounds are being created for the very first time.
0:21:20 > 0:21:24And that is always a very exciting and also scary moment
0:21:24 > 0:21:27because this is the moment when you as a conductor,
0:21:27 > 0:21:29you verify what you thought
0:21:29 > 0:21:34and what you imagine is actually coming out in the real world.
0:21:34 > 0:21:37When I finish writing an opera, when I finish writing anything,
0:21:37 > 0:21:39it's the greatest privilege to be able to hand it over
0:21:39 > 0:21:41and to delegate. "Right, go play."
0:21:43 > 0:21:45CARLO HUMS MELODY
0:21:52 > 0:21:56This passage of music takes the platoon into Mametz Wood,
0:21:56 > 0:21:59where it is The Queen of the Woods, sung by Alexandra Deshorties,
0:21:59 > 0:22:00who kills them.
0:22:00 > 0:22:02Put me back on the platform!
0:22:02 > 0:22:05She becomes The Destroyer, Sweet Sister Death.
0:22:05 > 0:22:08What is the effect that you want?
0:22:08 > 0:22:13No, I'm just trying to find a way of capturing what he's saying
0:22:13 > 0:22:15in his text about, you know,
0:22:15 > 0:22:21death being this debauched creature who's leering and smiling.
0:22:21 > 0:22:25How about choosing a few men and, like, picking them
0:22:25 > 0:22:28one at a time, crouching, jumping on the next?
0:22:30 > 0:22:35I think I should try and set it up like a sort of dance of death,
0:22:35 > 0:22:39so that Ball is in the middle and the men are in some kind of
0:22:39 > 0:22:44stylised circle and she's pouncing on one
0:22:44 > 0:22:46and the other and the next one.
0:22:46 > 0:22:48- Yeah.- Do you see what I'm saying?
0:22:48 > 0:22:50I mean, I can only do this with the guys.
0:22:50 > 0:22:52Now, guys...
0:22:53 > 0:22:55This is a dance of death, right?
0:22:55 > 0:23:00Each step is like another strange, contorted position.
0:23:03 > 0:23:06Yeah, like that? Ready.
0:23:06 > 0:23:08Five, six, seven, eight.
0:23:11 > 0:23:15And moving slowly, sort of tiny steps round.
0:23:15 > 0:23:16Keep going.
0:23:16 > 0:23:18More exaggerated, more grotesque.
0:23:20 > 0:23:23OK, right, right, that's the kind of thing.
0:23:23 > 0:23:24OK, now, on top of that...
0:23:27 > 0:23:32..Lexi is going to come and devour several of you one by one.
0:23:33 > 0:23:36Why don't you start out here?
0:23:37 > 0:23:39OK.
0:23:39 > 0:23:41So you have a nice journey across the floor.
0:23:43 > 0:23:46And you're going to come and jump and...
0:23:46 > 0:23:48My question is, do they stay in a circle
0:23:48 > 0:23:49or when I take them down do they go down?
0:23:49 > 0:23:51- They go down.- They go down, OK.
0:23:51 > 0:23:53So the circle is broken at that point.
0:23:53 > 0:23:55CHORAL SINGING
0:23:56 > 0:23:58Three, four, five, step!
0:23:58 > 0:24:02# Sweet sister death
0:24:02 > 0:24:06# Has gone debauched today
0:24:08 > 0:24:13# She stalks the wood from the high ground
0:24:13 > 0:24:16# She is not right
0:24:16 > 0:24:18# She cannot veil her appetite
0:24:19 > 0:24:22# But leers from you to me
0:24:22 > 0:24:25# From me to you... #
0:24:25 > 0:24:27As the opera moves to its conclusion,
0:24:27 > 0:24:30the women's chorus become tree spirits
0:24:30 > 0:24:32to create Mametz Wood on stage.
0:24:32 > 0:24:35They dismember the platoon in a violent scene
0:24:35 > 0:24:38arranged by fight director Kev McCurdy.
0:24:38 > 0:24:39Then you've got...
0:24:40 > 0:24:42Ahh!
0:24:42 > 0:24:43- ALL:- Ahh!
0:24:45 > 0:24:48Beautiful! You've all got good stuff, I'm loving it,
0:24:48 > 0:24:50but I just want to make it more dirty, all right?
0:24:50 > 0:24:51Good. Show me.
0:24:54 > 0:24:55Yes.
0:24:58 > 0:25:02Yeah. So that happens to here and then you can rip.
0:25:02 > 0:25:03Nice.
0:25:03 > 0:25:07Bang, bang, bang.
0:25:07 > 0:25:09Nice, nice, nice.
0:25:09 > 0:25:14# For all the fear... #
0:25:17 > 0:25:22The sitzprobe is the first time that the singers and the chorus
0:25:22 > 0:25:26sing with an orchestra rather than with a piano
0:25:26 > 0:25:27or piano reduction.
0:25:27 > 0:25:32And this is very important because the sound is completely different.
0:25:32 > 0:25:37# To my cold, black love... #
0:25:39 > 0:25:43'So there are always a little bit of adjustments to do.'
0:25:43 > 0:25:46I'm happy, you know, to go slower.
0:25:47 > 0:25:50Maybe just a tick slower, just a tick.
0:25:50 > 0:25:54- I don't want to obviously go too slowly.- That's fine, that's fine.
0:25:58 > 0:26:01When you actually see people putting themselves through the physical
0:26:01 > 0:26:05strain of singing in a moment that's particularly special to you,
0:26:05 > 0:26:08it validates what you've done and all the hard work you put in.
0:26:08 > 0:26:12It just makes you feel you're doing an OK job.
0:26:12 > 0:26:15# As my cold, black heart
0:26:15 > 0:26:21# Got strangled
0:26:22 > 0:26:27# For all of it... #
0:26:28 > 0:26:32The final rehearsals for In Parenthesis take place on stage.
0:26:34 > 0:26:35The trench is tried out.
0:26:37 > 0:26:38Are we ready?
0:26:38 > 0:26:40Military protocol is checked.
0:26:40 > 0:26:43During the First World War, British soldiers were not allowed
0:26:43 > 0:26:45- to wear beards. - Men, stand closer to the razor.
0:26:45 > 0:26:50# I want the stars to play with... #
0:26:50 > 0:26:52Lighting effects are devised.
0:26:53 > 0:26:55It's good.
0:26:59 > 0:27:04# And talk of Welshmen... #
0:27:04 > 0:27:07Well, ladies, this looks pretty extraordinary.
0:27:07 > 0:27:10And costumes are tested on stage.
0:27:10 > 0:27:14So we think, ladies, we'll do this section without the gloves,
0:27:14 > 0:27:15without the fingers.
0:27:20 > 0:27:23In Parenthesis the opera is the right work
0:27:23 > 0:27:26at absolutely the right moment
0:27:26 > 0:27:31because a national opera company has a cultural obligation to the people
0:27:31 > 0:27:33from which it has grown.
0:27:35 > 0:27:38I think the plus points for the company
0:27:38 > 0:27:40are not to do with making money
0:27:40 > 0:27:42or having a great hit on their hands.
0:27:42 > 0:27:46They're in a way more profound and deeper.
0:27:46 > 0:27:48I think we're out of time.
0:27:48 > 0:27:50Thank you very much indeed, everybody, well done.
0:27:50 > 0:27:54We're doing what an opera company should be doing,
0:27:54 > 0:27:58which is to produce highly intelligent, interesting...
0:28:00 > 0:28:04..material based around the literature of our country
0:28:04 > 0:28:08and history of our country, and making a beautiful artwork
0:28:08 > 0:28:11in response to those ingredients.
0:28:11 > 0:28:17# This one night transforms the endless dark
0:28:17 > 0:28:22# I would hasten to my cold, black love
0:28:22 > 0:28:27# I would breathe more freely for a grim embrace
0:28:27 > 0:28:31# As my cold, black heart
0:28:31 > 0:28:36# Got strangled
0:28:39 > 0:28:44# For all of it
0:28:45 > 0:28:52# In this dark night
0:28:52 > 0:29:00# There is a kind of blessedness
0:29:02 > 0:29:04APPLAUSE
0:29:09 > 0:29:11Thank you so much.