Music Theatre Wales is soon to embark on a UK tour of a new opera by composer Stuart MacRae and novelist Louise Welsh. Co-commissioned and co-produced by Music Theatre Wales and Scottish Opera, The Devil Inside is a tale of greed and compulsion adapted from Robert Louis Stevenson’s short story The Bottle Imp.
The opera will receive its world premiere at Theatre Royal Glasgow on January 23, 2016, and the tour opens at London’s Peacock Theatre (February 3 & 4), followed by performances in Cardiff, Basingstoke, Manchester, Aberystwyth, Huddersfield, Mold and Birmingham.
Composer Stuart MacRae and novelist Louise Welsh are both well-known in their respective fields. Stuart MacRae has been commissioned by the BBC, the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and London Sinfonietta, amongst others, and Louise Welsh is the author of a string of successful novels including The Cutting Room, The Bullet Trick and, most recently, Death is a Welcome Guest.
Their creative partnership has been nurtured by Scottish Opera and Music Theatre Wales – first with the 15 minute Remembrance Day (directed by MTW’s Joint Artistic Director Michael McCarthy as part of Scottish Opera’s Five: 15 – Operas Made in Scotland) and later with the one-act opera Ghost Patrol (2012) – a joint venture between the two companies – which won the South Bank Sky Arts Award for Opera in 2013, and received an Olivier Award nomination.
The Devil Inside will be conducted by MTW’s Joint Artistic Director and Music Director Michael Rafferty, first in Scotland with the Orchestra of Scottish Opera and then on tour in England and Wales with the Music Theatre Wales Ensemble.
The team behind Ghost Patrol returns for The Devil Inside and is joined by a strong ensemble cast including tenor Nicholas Sharratt (who was seen in Ghost Patrol 2012), mezzo-soprano Rachel Kelly, baritone Steven Page and Scottish Opera Emerging Artist Ben McAteer.
MacRae and Welsh have created a contemporary take on Robert Louis Stevenson’s unsettling tale whilst preserving the chilling, queasy qualities of the original. The story turns on a bottle with the power to grant the heart’s desire – but there’s a catch: you can only sell it for less than you paid for it, and, if you die while owning it, your soul goes straight to hell. James uses the bottle to get all he ever dreamed of, and then sells it. Happily married to Catherine, he feels his life is complete…until an awful discovery begins to unravel their life together, with devastating consequences. As the price of the bottle gets lower, a dangerous game of pass-the-parcel ensues. Greed, despair, unconditional love and a fear of death can force people to take drastic measures in their attempts to trick fate…
The Devil Inside will also be presented by Tapestry Opera in Toronto, Canada in association with Scottish Opera (March 10, 12, 13)
UK Tour: February 3 – April 18, 2016 (Cardiff, Basingstoke, Manchester, Aberystwyth, Huddersfield, Mold, Birmingham)