MEDIATHEK

The Judge's Wife

A Theme — Terrorism and justice

Storyline: A Terrorist has been caught. The Judge passes him too heavy sentence, to which people react. The Judge arrives home and settles down for a dinner with his wife and her sister. They have a heated conversation when the phone rings. The brother of the convicted terrorist decides to revenge.
 
The opera is based on TV script The Judge's Wife (1972) written by Caryl Churchill at the time of IRA terrorist attacks. The text deals with the power structures of social classes and the difference between terrorism and a revolutionary act. The original script is timeless and abstracted. It doesn’t reveal which act the terrorist has done or what is the punishment that he gets. The text encourages a reader to think about the justification and logic of terrorism and institutional violence, on the other hand. How a terrorist will justify his or her violent act? How a state will justify its own violent machinery? When do people feel themselves so powerless than their faith in representative democracy disappears?
 
The opera is carried out as a cross-art and multisensory performance where Churchill’s text and Talvitie’s music is combined with some additional text and documentary video material by director Teemu Mäki. The performance is closer to contemporary theather or live art than traditional opera. It includes music, drama, videos, texts and humour. The premiere included also a meal, vichyssoise soup, which is also written into the libretto.