|
''Manifest Destiny'' is a British opera composed by Keith Burstein with a libretto by Dic Edwards. The opera is notable for dealing with the subject of Islamic suicide bombers, and with the ramifications of both the Middle Eastern conflict and the War on Terror. Set in the present day or "near-future", the complex plot centres on a harrowing journey through the War on Terror by the Palestinian poet Leila who - along with her friend Mohammed - is radicalised and drawn into a suicide bomber cell, leaving her lover (the Jewish composer Daniel) in a state of hysterical blindness due to his despair at her loss and at the state of the world. Leila and Mohammed subsequently undergo a profound change of heart and, on the eve of their suicide mission, renounce violence and reject their own bombs. However, their attempts to achieve a more peaceful resolution to their lives (in the face of a brutal and cynical war campaign involving the President of the United States of America and her Director of CIA) result in them becoming further - and fatally - entangled in the conflict when Mohammed takes the fatal step of "saving" Leila by turning her over to American forces, leading to her internment and subsequent death in Camp X-Ray. The plot is resolved when Mohammed retrieves the dead Leila's poetry as a completed libretto, which he brings back to Daniel to set to music (effecting a symbolic reconciliation between Jewish and Palestinian cultures in spite of realpolitik interests and personal tragedy).〔"The power of love" – article by Jonathan Lennie, published in ‘’Time Out’’ #2142, 8 September 2011〕〔(Manifest Destiny 2011 Critics's Choice page at ''Time Out'' homepage ) (accessed 8 September 2011)〕 ''Manifest Destiny'' has attracted a large amount of press attention due to its themes, content and subject matter - including scenes showing the preparations for a suicide bomb raid and the incarceration and maltreatment of Leila in Camp X-Ray (the latter of which was a scene written prior to public knowledge of the events at Abu-Ghraib). An accusation in the press was the subject of a libel action (Burstein vs Associated Newspapers) in the British High Court. The opera has been staged twice: once at London's Tricycle Theatre in 2004 and once at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2005. Six years after the Edinburgh performances, the opera was extensively rewritten and restaged in London as ''Manifest Destiny 2011''.〔(''Manifest Destiny 2011'' event page at OperaUpClose website ) (accessed 8 September 2011)〕 ==Composition and inspiration== Seeking collaborators for an opera taking the "War on Terror" as its subject, Burstein advertised for a librettist. He advertised for a librettist via Artists Against The War (Guardian - My Opera Hell). In late 2002, the post was filled by controversial Welsh playwright Dic Edwards, and the two subsequently wrote ''Manifest Destiny'' together, completing the opera in 2003. Though critical in tone, the opera was explicitly presented as a pacifist statement. Both Burstein and Edwards took pains to stress that the opera did not endorse the actions of suicide bombers and displayed them ultimately rejecting their violent course of action. In the programme for the Edinburgh production, Burstein wrote: "The renunciation of violence in time of war will always seem miraculous. ''Manifest Destiny'' is an attempt to describe such a miracle. Taking as its starting point the most ardent form of contemporary violence - that of the suicide bomber - it asks us to contemplate a path, a journey of the soul, on which these ‘martyrs’ are transformed by the power of love. Their grievances remain, their passionate demand for justice remains, but their weapon turns from war to peace."〔 In interviews with Reuters, Edwards has stated "I've always believed theatre is a place of debate... What we wanted to show is that terrorists are human beings, with the same emotions as the rest of us. While it's impossible to sympathise with terrorism, I think we have to, for the sake of the future, try and understand it... We wanted to show that potentially we are all suicide bombers if there is a cause." Burstein added "Opera is peculiarly able to X-ray issues and X-ray the soul in a way that other media do not.I hope the opera will surprise people by making the characters in this story seem to be very immediate and very real...There is also a symbol at the end of a possible reconciliation between Palestinians and Jews."〔 In an article written for ''The Scotsman'', Burstein stated"(''Manifest Destiny'') imagines a scenario in which the protagonists - would-be suicide bombers - are stopped in their tracks. Not by the security services, but by their own humanity: a process of love, springing from within the peaceful teachings of Islam and triumphing over their anger and fear. In the near-future envisaged in the opera, it is Mohammed, a Jihadist committed to violent direct action, who is transformed by discovering the human-scaled, yet overwhelming nature of his love for a fellow suicide bomber (which) has so overwhelmed his emotions that he can neither let her die, nor let her or himself kill others." 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Manifest Destiny (opera)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|