Fetishists, transvestites, trash TV . . . and Iibrettos: ‘All the things you associate with opera, it isn’t’

Excess all arias

You thought it was just another tawdry late-night TV show. Think again. JERRY SPRINGER: THE OPERA is an exhilarating Clash between high art and low comedy. Words: Mark Fisher

t has a cast of 2 I. a chorus of ten. a live band. a demanding

score and a libretto that goes ‘\\'hat the fuck. what the

fuck. what the fucky fuck fuck‘ over a diminished scale. So. as you can imagine. .lt'rry .S‘pingcr: The Opera has phenomenal word of mouth.

It’s one of those dream concepts that catches everyone‘s imagination. .lerry Springer and opera: that‘s funny right'.’ And

Luckily for us they resisted. This is Lee's l5th consecutive year on the Fringe and Thomas is not far behind with l l visits. The festival is their artistic home and they wanted to give the show one last tweak for lidinburgh. cutting 40 minutes of good but not quite perfect material before what seems like the inevitable commercial transfer. 'I wanted to do it right. to really linish it off.‘ says Thomas. a self-taught

extra buzz about this opera-comedy clash has been generated because of the way it‘s been put together by Stewart Lee. stand-up turned director. and Richard Thomas. whose (‘V includes an opera called 7i)lll‘('II(".\’ Dim. They have slowly built this tribute to telly's king of dysfunctional relationships from tentative concert performance to try-out first act. all the time getting audience feedback and pointers about which way to head next. 'lt‘s evolved in a weird. Labour Party-style

‘Opera is an extreme form, so if you’re going to write an opera, you may as well use an extreme

composer. ‘And lidinburgh’s a great place to do it. It‘s the greatest festival on earth.’

Lee and Thomas are two men who know they‘re on a roll. Sitting opposite me in a quiet corner above their (‘lapham rehearsal room. they babble away in a high-speed barrage of enthusiasm. the one barely giving room for the other to speak. ‘I thought we'd get a real

public partnership with its financial supporters.‘ laughs Lee.

So although its oflicial debut is not until now in lidinburgh. it has already attracted attention on a global scale. lts try-out in liebrual')’ at the Battersca :\I'Is (‘entre drew audiences from as far afield as New York as well as promoters including ('ameron Mackintosh. Andrew Lloyd \Vebber and National Theatre director Nick llytner. There and then. Lee and Thomas were given offers of a West Iind run.

38 THE LIST FESTIVAL GUIDE 7 u . : .

backlash from the opera crowd.’ says Thomas. ‘That it would be seen as too lowbrow or undignilied. But in fact. they really liked it.‘

Lee chips in: “I don‘t know anything about opera. so [just treated it like a comedy script that needed editing. But then when the opera people were coming in and going: “This is the funniest thing I’ve ever seen." I went and saw some opera and I thought. well. it probably is. If you've only ever seen

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