Kings, Witches, Lovers, and Souls
A compass of Cumbrian legends
This new opera from Jen Hartley takes audiences anticlockwise around old Cumbria from west to north, pausing to uncover old tales of battles, spirits, loyalty, love, betrayal, and superstition. From ruined abbeys to enchanted stone circles, watery secrets to ghostly cairns, this is a folkloric tour of the magic of Eden, the Lakes, and the Dales.
Penrith Playhouse
Friday 30th August, 19.30
Saturday 31st August, 19.30
Notes from the Composer
Creating a short opera for a Cumbrian opera company was a unique chance to use the rich local folklore to bring to life something that only Cumbria can claim as its own. It seemed to invite something that not only retold local legends, but also evoked the sights and sounds and smells of our hills, lakes, rain, mist, and – yes! – sunshine in the timeless and inimitable landscape.
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This series of narrated tableaux sets to music the composer's own elaboration on the legends that lie behind some of Cumbria's most beloved landmarks and mythical characters. They were chosen for their position at all points of the compass: Dunmail Raise and Aira Force in the West, Tebay in the South, Pendragon Castle in the East, Shap Abbey and Long Meg’s stone circle in the North. We invite you to wonder: what remnants of these tales, with their secrets and mysteries, are preserved in the land and the lakes? If you still yourself for a moment to listen, whose voice carries on the mist?
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Maybe a visit to Dunmail Raise will evoke the thunder of horses and the cries of men defending the last kingdom of Cumbria from the Saxons; perhaps you will glimpse the ghost of Emma through the spray of Aira Force, or imagination will conjure the White Monks of Shap from ruined walls and empty tombs. Will your next trip to Tebay snag a memory of poor Mary, forever named a witch? Will you lean in to hear Long Meg whisper from the cursed prison of her stone circle, or shiver with dread at the sight of Pendragon Castle’s ancient walls, fearing a glimpse of the tyrant riding out over the fells?
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“Listen to hear unlocked the legends of old: the rivers, stones and land tell long-enduring tales of Kings, Witches, Lovers and Souls.”
