PHILADELPHIA, PA — Temple Opera Theater proudly presents the collegiate premiere—and Pennsylvania premiere—of Poul Ruders’ The Handmaid’s Tale, based on Margaret Atwood’s acclaimed dystopian novel. Directed by Claire Choquette and conducted by José Luis Domínguez, performances will take place Friday, November 14 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, November 16 at 3:00 p.m. at Tomlinson Theater (1301 W. Norris Street, Philadelphia). Tickets are now on sale.
In The Handmaid’s Tale, a patriarchal, totalitarian theonomic state known as the Republic of Gilead, has overthrown the United States government. In this society, set in the near future, women are subjugated and all are organized by fertility into ‘Martha’s (domestic servants), Aunts (trainers and monitors of the Handmaids), and Handmaids, whose sole duty is to bear a child in lieu of their assigned Commander’s wife. The narrative intimately follows the personal account of the Handmaid who is stationed with Commander Fred, and thereby referred to as Offred (Of Fred). Offred must navigate each day in the society which stripped her of human rights, bodily autonomy, and even her husband and young child from the ‘Time Before’ Gilead. Everything changes when, one night, Offred is invited to a private meeting with her Commander. Librettist Paul Bentley meticulously structures two acts to reveal a symmetry of events, but with opposing characterizations. The haunting score by Danish composer Poul Ruders evokes the audience to share in each corner of Offred’s emotional landscape as she does whatever she must to survive in Gilead.
Since its first publication in 1985, Margaret Atwood’s novel has never gone out of print. The Handmaid’s Tale went on to win the Governor General's Award and the first Arthur C. Clarke Award, was nominated for the Nebula Award, the Booker Prize, and the Prometheus Award, and most recently, was adapted into the 2017 Hulu television series by the same name. Its operatic adaptation by Ruders and Bentley premiered in Copenhagen in 2000 and has since been produced in London, Toronto, Minnesota, Boston, South Carolina, San Francisco and more. Ruders’ free tonal style is vividly narrative and lyrical, praised for its sympathy to the spirit of the source material.
Presented in English with projected supertitles, Temple Opera Theater’s production brings this powerful and timely work to new audiences. In the words of Director Choquette, "The heaviness of the Republic of Gilead isn’t some far-off dystopia. It’s here, beginning to happen in our country now. The Handmaid’s Tale asks us to notice—and to act.”
Temple Opera Theater’s run of this production will open on Friday, Nov. 14, at 7:30 p.m., and close with a matinee on Sunday, Nov. 16, at 3 p.m. All performances will take place at Tomlinson Theater (1301 W Norris St).
Tickets can be purchased online with prices from $10 - $25 at onthestage.tickets/temple-university-opera-theater.