Deep Waters
2000 Filed in: With Cecelia
McDowall
A darkly comic opera that makes an ecological point,
commissioned and performed by W11 Children’s Opera,
as their millennium production. First performed at
St. James Norlands, London in 2000. DEEP WATERS
was specially written for a cast of over 80
children of widely-varied musical experience. The
action begins with a wild, raging storm. Four
children fall overboard to the bottom of the sea.
In this supernatural, aquatic world, where the
fish play havoc with each other in a bid to
survive, the children find that they can now
breathe. With a ghastly sense of impending doom,
they realize that it was no accident that brought
them here. They have a dangerous task to perform.
An opera that is witty but with a dark edge, it
has a serious issue at its heart – over-fishing.
Later performed elsewhere.