GRACE
A chamber opera for the Guildhall Operamakers MA
Words Sophie Rashbrook
Music Maeve McCarthy
Video link available upon request
2019 (Photos by Monika Jast (FG Studios))
Premiere performance: 3 July 2019, Milton Court Studio Theatre, Barbican, London
Original Cast
Grace Gifford – Soprano
Harriet Burns
Joseph Plunkett – High baritone
Matthew Palmer
Priest – Counter-tenor
Collin Shay
Soldier – Tenor
Robert Lewis
Witness/Prison Guard – Bass baritone
William Thomas
Chamber Ensemble
Flute d. picc and alto
Oboe d. cor anglais
Clarinet Bb d. bass clarinet
Percussion (bodhran, orchestral bass drum, vibraphones, 2 x tom-toms (low), 5 x tin cans ranging in size, snare drum)
Piano
Classical Guitar
Violin
Viola
Violoncello
Double bass
Historical Basis
The opera is inspired by a true story: the 1916 wedding of Grace Gifford and the poet and rebel fighter, Joseph Plunkett, which took place in Kilmainham Jail in the aftermath of the Dublin Easter Risings. Shortly after the wedding, Joseph was shot by a firing squad in the early hours of 4 May, but it is unclear whether the gunmen were British or Irish.
Notes on the Characters
Grace, Joseph and the Prison Guard (who is Irish) are all supporters of the Irish Cause.
The Soldier is British and is against the Irish Cause.
The Priest is Irish, and sympathises with the Irish Cause, however, owing to the Church’s condemnation of the Uprising, he is unable to take a side. He believes the punishment of the rebels by the British is excessive. The character is based on Father Eugene McCarthy, who blessed all the executed rebels, of which there were already three by the night of the wedding.