Forthcoming Productions
Confucius Says
The analects of Confucius are blended with Chinese folk-tale to create a new children's opera for Hackney Music Development Trust.
The Chinese Mother Goddess Nü Wa challenges Gong Gong the spirit of the water, and Jurong, the spirit of fire to redress the balance of yin and yang in the human beings she creates out of the clay of the Yellow River.
They recount six tales to persuade her which of them she should favour in her recipe for the soul.
Composed by Richard Taylor to a libretto by Stephen Plaice, the opera will be directed by Clare Whistler and designed by Neil Irish.
Hackney Empire
July 3th 2008 matinee and evening
July 4th 2008 matinee and evening
For more information go to www.hmdt.org.uk
daddy Cool
For info on future performances visit: www.daddycool-musical.de
What the press said:
'This high-energy, vibrant, refreshingly unpretentious show bursts with talent and has the feel of a street carnival to which everyone, old and young, hip and not so hip (Cliff Richard, bless him, was dancing in his seat), is welcome.' Mail on Sunday
'The show, with a book by Stephen Plaice and Amani Naphtali and given a raw, energetic production by Andy Goldberg, also boasts a soupçon of wit, a hint of a heart and lashings of energy.' Daily Telegraph
Stephen Plaice is a dramatist and script-writer who has written extensively for theatre, opera and television.
He was writer-in-residence at Lewes Prison for a seven year stretch, where he wrote the acclaimed play Trunks about the Brighton Trunk Murders. After leaving the prison residency, he began writing scripts for ITV's The Bill, scripting more than twenty episodes.
In the last decade he has become one of Britain's leading librettists and bookwriters.
He has written three operas for Glyndebourne with composer John Lunn — Misper, Zoë and Tangier Tattoo, and in 2006 scripted the hiphop adaptation of Mozart's Così Fan Tutte for the same house under the title of School4Lovers.
It proved a hit both at home, in Helsinki and at the Estonian National Opera in Tallinn. It is 'one of the slickest and sassiest musicals around' according to Hilary Finch in The Times.
Stephen also wrote the libretto for Sir Harrison Birtwistle's chamber opera The Io Passion which premièred in 2004.
In 2006, he took over the writing of the book of the West End hit, Daddy Cool.
His latest opera collaboration was with composer Orlando Gough — The Finnish Prisoner, a co-production between the Paddock and Finnish National and Chamber Operas which premièred in summer 2007.
News
* Jonathan Gill and Stephen Plaice's operatic farce The Moon On A Stick, under development in the Genesis programme at ROH2, was presented as a work-in-progress, 50 minute showcase at the Jerwood Space in October this year.
* The Finnish Prisoner is scheduled for performances in Finland in February 2009. The production will visit Hämeenlinna and the FNO in Helsinki.
* Stephen Plaice is writing the libretto for Angelfighter, Harrison Birtwistle's oratorio for the Bach Festival in Leipzig, date to be announced.