MEDIATHEK

Mad King Suibhne tells Suibhne's journey out of madness and depression through the love of his wife, the guidance of a witch and her two magical companions (a stag and blackbird played by a flute and bass clarinet), and his own personal confrontations and realisations. The music aims to always be immediately and dramatically expressive, and takes from folk, baroque, spirituals, romantic music and contemporary popular music traditions.
 
Suibhne’s world seems far away in time but its themes bring it close to the world today: how individuals can overcome, manage or learn to live with mental illness and depression, and the pressures that it creates for their loved ones; the traumatising nature of war and a society built on conflict and aggressive competition; power shared between men and women and the necessary search for a better world. The conflict between wildness and civilization is ongoing, but the poem, and our opera, deal with an even more important theme: the human desire to make the world a better place.