Whoever says that opera is a quaint, irrelevant, relic from the 19th century has never seen a production by Guerilla Opera — an upstart group of iconoclasts intent on blasting opera into a realm of immediacy and newness. Is it vulgar? Well, it’s not exactly refined. Here’s what BMInt said of Guerilla’s Heart of a Dog last year.
Is Guerilla’s latest outing merely shocking, or perhaps some alternate aesthetic? Well it’s apparently Loose, Wet, Perforated, written by Nicholas Vines. It opens September 16 at Boston Conservatory’s Zack Box Theater, 8 the Fenway, and has subsequent performances on September 17, 21, 22, 24, and 25.
Inspired by Medieval morality plays, Loose, Wet, Perforated is the tale of the characters “Loose” and “Wet,” who undergo various “ordeals” to climb rank in their Guild system. One begins in a privileged position and descends to isolation and despair, and the other begins in a lowly position and rises to fame and fortune by way of ruthlessness and violence. The opera is directed by Jeremy Bloom; scenic design is by Julia Noulin-Mérat; and the cast includes Aliana de la Guardia as Loose, Jonathan Nussman as Wet, Rebekah Alexander as Perforated, and Jan Zimmerman as Various. Instrumentalists are Rane Moore (clarinets); Kent O’Doherty (saxophone); Chris Reade (trombone); and Mike Williams (percussion).
Composer Nicholas Vines’ works have been performed in his native Australia, the US, the UK, and Europe by such interpreters as Alarm Will Sound, ChamberMade Opera, the Ensemble Offspring, Gedanesis Chamber Choir, White Rabbit, the BT Scottish Ensemble, the Australian Voices, Eliot Gattegno and Liwei Qin, and Boston-based groups Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP), Callithumpian Consort, and Schola Cantorum. He is making his Guerilla Opera debut with Loose, Wet, Perforated.
Ticket prices are : $15/$10/Free, to Students with Valid I.D.