Kafka's Chimp - 1996 Opera Production 

Making of an Opera

Ten Years Past

Kafka's Chimp had its genesis in a partnership that began nearly 10 years ago, when composer John Metcalf, then artistic director of Music Theatre, hired Keith Turnbull, presently artistic director of Theatre Arts, as his associate.

Turnbull, in productions like 1972's Sticks and Stones by James Reaney, had long been at the centre of a movement to extend the Canadian theatre and find new modes of writing, developing and producing for theatre.

Metcalf, as creator of 1990's Tornrak, had similar concerns.

They were not just interested in creating contemporary, original work for their form but also in questioning the meaning and conventions of theatre itself. They asked, What is the discipline all about as the new millennium approaches? Metcalf knew of Kafka's story, liked the richness of a text that worked on many levels and had seen a fragment produced as a theatre education piece in London years earlier.

Summer, 1991

By the late summer of 1991, the key elements were in place. It was decided that Turnbull would direct, Metcalf compose and Mark Morris would write the libretto: an exploratory workshop was planned for the following spring for which Metcalf would write 15 minutes of material.

May, 1992

In May 1992, a crew of interpreters convened with them to gather source material, look at every available film about apes, explore movement, improvise extensively, and further develop content and narrative structure.

A central influence for the composer lay in music videos and the culture of MTV, which developed in a post-industrial world, eschewed the hierarchy of the industrial city's theatre structure and embraced movement, technology and associated visual elements. Metcalf found the supersaturated, accessible environment terribly attractive. "Of course, it's commercial, it's dubbed and the images are often loose associations at best, but there was a completeness of the senses to them that I liked and that I now feel when I watch this piece," says Metcalf.

The opera seeks to explore the relationship between instinct and intellect; contrary to contemporary views, that value logic over impulse, it hopes to suggest the various levels at which it is possible to gain information and understanding. "The Report to An Academy is one of Kafka's lightest inventions; it's very dense but it doesn't have the unrelenting darkness of Kafka's work," says Metcalf. "I'm happy to deal with seriousness but I don't want to give myself or the audience a bad time."

Winter, 1993

In 1993, with newly confirmed funding from Opera America, production dates were set for the summer of 1996, and the players gathered again at Banff for a full-scale development workshop. By then, Metcalf had written most of the music, a good part of Morris's libretto was in place, and a partial cast was in place. "We had seen enough of the piece to determine where it needed to go," says Metcalf. "We could understand character, narrative, dramatic intention; but the music and vocal characterization needed amplification. We had to consider many changes, and we were happy to do it. When you work quickly, your internal critic becomes very loud; it's important to turn it down, to allow the time to observe and understand the material."

May, 1994

The project evolved further in May 1994, when a pre-production workshop brought together most of the instrumentalists and the cast, along with movement and design people. Working with a completed score, instrumentation and libretto, the workshop resolved many of the technical questions about sets, costuming and lighting.

September, 1995

"Then last September, I received a long fax from Keith; he said he felt that though it was an enormously strong piece, there were still parts that could be strengthened. He asked me, Would you agree to so some further work on the piece prior to production, and I said I'd be delighted. They weren't major questions, but they were important. Now a re-write for a composer is different than for a writer or any other kind of artist; if you change one note, the entire thing needs to be reworked. It's an enormous task - it involved two months creative work and two months to get the materials in order - but I was happy to do it."

August, 1996

Years later, the result of all these efforts, Kafka's Chimp, premieres at the Banff Arts Festival. And what remains so compelling for many is the structural complexity of an opera that effuses meaning: by the layering of information, the making of vast implications on subjects from education to human sexuality, the work provides a million points of entry for its audience.

"What's exciting is that the content is explored on every level of the piece," says Metcalf. "For instance, Kaye has a counterpart in the violin, which is played high up, close to the heart, and Peter has a counterpart in the saxophone, which is more masculine, played with a lot of pelvic action. The violin sets the characters into action: in the opening scene, when Peter hears the sound of the violin, he aspires to high culture and - putting it simply - get the girl. There are little suggestions, hints everywhere, on every level in this work - I think we've really broken new territory."

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