A Feast in the Time of Plague is a 2020 opera by Alex Woolf to a libretto by David Pountney, loosely based on the "little tragedy" of the same name by Alexander Pushkin. [1]
The opera was commissioned by Grange Park Opera during the COVID-19 pandemic. Pountney described how he came to write the libretto whilst in lockdown in Wales
I responded to Pushkin’s little fragment by creating 12 – because of the Last Supper – very varied characters who arrive voluntarily and most of whom depart involuntarily – i.e. they die. In between they capture the defiance and solidarity that we have all experienced during these strange times. The virus exposes truths about all of us in surprising ways. A Feast in the Time of Plague captures this – as well as the essential lesson that we must carry on laughing. [1]
The 25-year old Woolf wrote the music in six weeks. [1] The premiere performance took place at Grange Park Opera on 12 September 2020, accompanied by the composer playing piano in the wings. [2]
| Role | Voice type | Premiere cast [1] Grange Park Opera, 12 September 2020 (Conductor: Toby Purser) |
|---|---|---|
| Elena | soprano | Claire Booth |
| Frederic, her butler | tenor | Peter Hoare |
| Joyce, the cook | contralto | Anne-Marie Owens |
| Lidochka, Elena's daughter | soprano | Soraya Mafi |
| Claire, a clairvoyant | soprano | Susan Bullock |
| Antoine, a playboy | baritone | Simon Keenlyside |
| McGuire, grandmother | soprano | Janis Kelly |
| Pius, an informer | tenor | Jeff Lloyd Roberts |
| Karl, a radical bohemian | baritone | Will Dazeley |
| Death/Policeman/Judas | bass | Clive Bayley |
| Adina, newly wed to Pat | soprano | Sarah Minns |
| Pat, newly wed to Adina | baritone | Harry Thatcher |
The opera is in two sections, Arrivals and Departures. "Twelve archetypes – from cook to policeman to dewy newlyweds – gather for a last supper, each offering their own thoughts on risk, life and death." [2]
The critic of The Guardian commented that it could benefit from longer-term reconsideration and rewriting, but in the meantime "enjoy it as it is: a coup, achieved in an instant with flair, hard work and brilliant team spirit." [2] Rupert Christiansen, writing in the Daily Telegraph , gave the opera four stars (out of five), describing it as "intriguing [and] fabulously performed." [3] The reviewer for The Stage noted that "[e]veryone gets his or her turn, and if some of the individual numbers go on too long – the parody pastiches would make greater impact if shorter – there’s certainly a huge amount of talent on stage." [4]