The Eternity Man is a chamber opera in one act and seven scenes by the Australian composer Jonathan Mills to a libretto by Dorothy Porter. It deals with the life of Arthur Stace who was known as "The Eternity Man" because he chalked the word "Eternity" about 500,000 times in over 35 years on Sydney's walls and footpaths.
The opera is written for four voices. These include the voice of Stace himself (baritone) and three female characters (soprano, mezzo-soprano, contralto) who represent alternatively Stace's sister, Myrtle; a Darlinghurst brothel keeper; and an assortment of female choruses – female freaks at the Sydney Royal Easter Show and also ghosts of female convicts and a gaggle of Kings Cross drag queens. A performance lasts for about 70 minutes.
The work was commissioned by and premiered at London's Almeida Theatre on 23 July 2003, conducted by Stuart Stratford, production by Benedict Andrews, with singers Richard Jackson, Tara Harrison, Claire McCaldin and Andee-Louise Hippolite. [1] The work had one Australian season, at the Sydney Festival in January 2005. [2] That performance at the Sydney Opera House Studio, conducted by Richard Gill included the singers Grant Smith, Christa Hughes, Belinda Montgomery, Inara Molinari. [3]
In 2008 director Julien Temple adapted the work into a 64-minute film with funding from the ABC and Britain's Channel 4. It was first shown in June 2008 at the Sydney Film Festival, subsequently at film festivals in Melbourne, Locarno, Athens, Cologne, Vancouver, Warsaw, Mar del Plata. In 2008 it won the ATOM Award for Best Experimental Film, the Gold Cinematography Award and the Judges Award for Best Work of the Year at the Queensland Australian Cinematography Awards[ citation needed ]. It was also named the Best Performing Arts program at the international 2009 Rose d'Or. [4] [5] The film screened on the ABC on 18 January 2009. The cast includes Grant Doyle and Christa Hughes. [6]
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Dorothy Featherstone Porter was an Australian poet. She was a recipient of the Christopher Brennan Award for lifetime achievement in poetry.
Arthur Malcolm Stace, known as Mr Eternity, was an Australian soldier. He was an alcoholic from his teenage years until the early 1930s, when he converted to Christianity and began to spread his message by inscribing the word "Eternity" in copperplate writing with yellow chalk on footpaths and doorsteps in and around Sydney, from Martin Place to Parramatta, from 1932 to his death in 1967. He has become somewhat of a legend in the local folklore of the city, and the story of his life has inspired books, museum exhibits, statues, an opera, and a film.
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The Eternity Man is a 2008 tele-film adaptation of the opera The Eternity Man by composer Jonathan Mills and librettist Dorothy Porter.
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Grant Doyle is an Australian/British operatic baritone.
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Sir Jonathan Mills, AO, FRSE is an Australian composer and festival director. He was born and raised in Sydney and has dual Australian and UK citizenship. His work includes two operas, an oratorio, a ballet, song cycles, concertos, and chamber music. He has directed a number of arts festivals in Australia, and from 2006 to 2014 he was director of the Edinburgh International Festival.
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