Irish premiere of minimalist classic

The British Prime Minister's address to the Oireachtas was not Thursday's only evidence of the new Ireland. That evening, Opera Theatre Company presented the Irish premiere of a minimalist classic, Tom Johnson's Four Note Opera, in Carrig allen, Co Leitrim, at the start of a tour which not only steers clear of the capital, but visits mainly out-of-the-way places.

Johnson's opera, first heard in New York in 1972, is, literally, a work which uses just four notes, and the composer takes his number and counting games well beyond the title. The singers in his opera are both aware of themselves as performers (well, maybe not the tenor) and aware of the composer's presence (Pirandello's Six Characters in Search of an Author was an important influence) as well as aware of the audience.

The cast comment on what they're singing (and have been singing and will be singing) and make plain their feelings about what they've been burdened with or feel they have had taken away from them (no high "C's" for the tenor). If you are familiar with the hilariously detailed literalism of Ionesco's How to boil an egg, you will have a good idea of the crafty "i"-dotting, "t"-crossing and ability to force that extra humorous leg of a journey that Johnson uses to shape his text.

The work is, in every sense, a number opera, clearly broken up into arias and ensembles, themselves open to further sung enumeration, variation by variation. The singers in this new OTC production, the haughty and amorous soprano, Nicola Sharkey, the wily and wicked contralto, Buddug Verona James, the never to be satisfied tenor, Kevin West, and the sober and sensible baritone-plus-bass, Joe Corbett, take with gusto to the exposure of the foibles and vanities of their kind.

Director Gavin Quinn and designers Aedin Cosgrove (sets) and Suzanne Cave (costumes) provide colourful action and visuals, straining with beds and a dustbin beyond the intrinsic absurdities of Johnson's core idea.

Tours to the Town Hall Theatre, Kiltimagh, Co Mayo (tomorrow), the Town Hall, Clifden, (Tuesday), Friarsgate Theatre, Kilmallock, Co Limerick (Thursday), Abymill Theatre, Fethard, Co Tipperary (Friday), Aras Phadraig Theatre, Killarney, Co Kerry (Sunday, December 6th), the Town Hall, Skibbereen, Co Cork (Tuesday, December 8th), the Parish Hall, Tuosist, Kenmare, Co Kerry (Wednesday, December 9th), St John's Arts Centre, Listowel, Co Kerry (Friday, December 11th), and the Parish Hall, Doonbeg, Co Clare (Sunday, December 13th).

For information contact Jan Duffy on 01-6494962