Name: Watershed: The Death of Dr Duncan
Start: 2024-06-14T00:00:00.000Z
End: 2024-06-16T00:00:00.000Z
Location: Sydney Opera House

Organization

Admin

Adelaide Festival

Opera Australia

Direction d'orchestre

Brett Weymark

Mise en scène

Neil Armfield

Décors

Ailsa Paterson

Costumes

Lumières

Nigel Levings

Jane Rossetto

Video

Sean Bacon

Chanteur

Ténor

Mark Oates

Duncan/Dustan

Basse

Pelham Andrews

Mick O’Shea/Cop/Lawyer

Orchestra

Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra

Others

Opera Australia Chorus

anglais

Watershed: The Death of Dr Duncan

Sydney

Australie

Sydney Opera House

Joan Sutherland Theatre

Watershed Twist

Public

Sagar Haldar

Valide

As his body hit the water, few heard the impact. But the ripple effect of the murderous act defied natural law and swelled to seismic scale.It’s half a centu...

The moment and the movement that changed Australia.
As his body hit the water, few heard the impact. But the ripple effect of the murderous act defied natural law and swelled to seismic scale.

It’s half a century since the infamous drowning of Dr George Ian Ogilvie Duncan; a moment in time that triggered an alleged police cover-up, a city-wide scandal, national outrage, a Scotland Yard investigation… and a glaring absence of convictions.

Most importantly, Dr Duncan’s death led South Australia to decriminalise homosexuality, ahead of the rest of the country.

Watershed, a ravishing new operatic work and the hit of the 2022 Adelaide Festival, is a collaboration between some of Australia’s most acclaimed creative talents.

Helpmann Award-winning playwright Alana Valentine and author Christos Tsiolkas (The Slap) have created a searing, no-punches-pulled libretto. Brisbane composer Joe Twist’s score is luscious and ultimately transcendent. And Australian theatre and opera legend Neil Armfield’s production is as deeply felt as it is thrillingly physical.

Written as an oratorio, Watershed turns the illicit into the sacred, through powerful choral music, solo voices and dance. It fuses inquest transcripts, press clippings, private correspondence and monologues spanning five decades of anti-gay violence, and pays tribute to the unassuming academic whose untimely death lit a fuse.

See for yourself why Watershed was met with five-star reviews, a sold-out premiere season, and rapturous, teary standing ovations at every performance.

English

Crédits de représentation (Distribution et équipe de production )

Distribution

Équipage

Ensemble