Rotten Kid
//
Erchao Gu & Clare Best
30th June // 2021
Milton Court Concert Hall // Guildhall School of Music & Drama
// a comic folk tale exploring the shadowy world between truth and lies, which becomes more and more seductive as the threat to survival looms large
// Rotten Kid is an opera in one act inspired by a Chinese folk tale. The action takes place in and around Mother’s house, where she lives with her son Rotten Kid, in a provincial town. Rotten Kid, now a young man, doesn’t remember his Father, who went away when he was very young
// a frequent visitor to the town’s gambling den, Rotten Kid has been unlucky lately. When he gambles away Mother’s horse and their house, it’s time for radical action. He sets himself up as a Marriage Broker, determined to find a wealthy suitor for Mother, to rescue them from bankruptcy. Then an unexpected suitor turns up, and events take a new direction…
// Rotten Kid tells the story through words, music, projection and live shadow play in an economical and tourable production. It can easily be adapted to different, often unconventional performance spaces.
// scenography // puppeteering //
credits
rotten kid // tenor
George Curnow
mother // soprano
Juliet Wallace
suitors // bass
Francisco Reis
music director
Victoria Hofflin
violin
Anastasia Egorova
clarinet // bass clarinet
Jonathan Willett
double bass
Matthew Downey
percussion
Tom Hodgson
libretto
Clare Best
music
Erchao Gu
director
Nazli Tabatabai-Khatambakhsh
scenography
Manuela Pecorari // Paola Sanchez
production // deputy stage manager
Paris Linxuan Wu