Stage director: Bea Goodwin
Conductor: Felix Jarrar
Set design: Tim Reckel
Based on Poe’s chilling tale, this opera explores Madeline Usher’s point of view and how the house and her brother have driven her to madness. The story is about a friend that visits Roderick Usher, an old companion from his boyhood, in an unspecified gothic land. When the friend arrives at the House of Usher, the place where Roderick lives, he learns of the illness that has plagued and killed almost all the members of Roderick’s extended family. The only surviving members of the Usher family are Roderick and his elusive and decrepit twin sister, Lady Madeline. As the friend gradually begins to experience the effects of the Usher illness in the House, his loyalty to Roderick turns into an obsession. The nature of the relationships between all three characters becomes blurred and hazy as they come face to face with their respective destinies.
This is the first opera I ever directed. It was mounted at two different houses in the same season.
