by George Benjamin, libretto by Martin Crimp
seen at Covent Garden on 18 May 2018
This newly commissioned opera is conducted by the composer and features Stéphane Degout as the King, Gyula Orendt as Gaveston nd the Stranger, Barbara Hannigan as Isabel, Peter Hoare as Mortimer, Samuel Boden as the Boy and Ocean Barrington-Cook as the Girl. It is directed by Katie Mitchell and designed by Vicki Mortimer. It is a meditation on the hapless reign of King Edward II (1307 to 1327) though it is played in modern dress.
The opera comprises seven scenes. In the first part (four scenes), the King banishes his military adviser Mortimer after the latter criticises the King's improvident relations with Gaveston. Though historically the scandal was that the two men might have been lovers, here Mortimer disparages all manifestations of love as being too threatening to the stability of political life. Next, Mortimer forces the Queen to be confronted with the misery of the kingdom, after which she agrees to his plan to murder Gaveston. Gaveston is seized at a private entertainment during which the King has asked him to foretell his future by reading his palm. Once he has learned of Gaveston's death, the King repudiates his Queen.
