Old Friends and Other Days, a film by Northern Ireland Opera, supported by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland has been lovingly described as ‘like a beautifully messed-up Merchant Ivory Film’. This 45-minute cinematic experience will have you drawn in from the moment a lone voice starts a hauntingly beautiful lullaby. Who is she singing for? Do we ever know for sure?
The viewer is instantly plunged into an atmospheric, decaying, beautiful world where ambiguity reigns supreme and the stream of consciousness is governed by the world of song. Is it a sanctuary to enrich your senses or could it be purgatory? Our four muses take us through these fleeting moments of reflection, discipline, loneliness and joy, where they tempt and entice us to reminisce on what has gone before. What happens once everyone’s suitcases are packed? Where will our muses take us next?
Original concept and direction by Cameron Menzies, Old Friends and Other Days takes the music of Irish composer William Vincent Wallace and one of his contemporaries, William Balfe, and theatricalises each piece into epic storytelling through song: taking the ordinary into extraordinary and back again. Four of Northern Ireland’s shining lights in opera are featured in this film: Carolyn Dobbin, Mary McCabe, Emma Morwood and Sinéad O’Kelly.
Old Friends and Other Days: Gallery and Behind The Scenes
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Old Friends and Other Days
'Like a beautifully messed up Merchant Ivory film...'