A new Welsh rock opera written in Brecon is set to premiere at Theatr Brycheiniog on Friday February 27. Nigel Evans, the writer, claims Greed to be the first ever activist rock opera.
He says: “It’s a musical protest and a reaction to bankers bonuses, big corporations, austerity and government cuts. It’s that theme that brought us together. It’s been described as a fairytale with guitars, and Dai Davies, former manager of The Stranglers, is calling it the first Facebook Opera.”
Greed features a live band alongside a dozen or so local actors and singers including Ian Milton as Rotkin the baddie banker and cab driver David Luther Jones as the story’s narrator. The cast was formed following a callout on Facebook for people who would like to perform in a rock opera.
Nigel adds: “Greed is about the big bad world we live in but I’ve shrunk the world in Greed to make it easier to follow. It’s about hapless politicians in the fictional town of Abertaff and the evil bankers like Rotkin who control them.
“People are getting genned up about what’s going on in the world. The internet has opened up so many alternative ways of getting information and not just believing what they’re spoonfed on TV.”
The show will also feature singer Jenni Davies as love interest Elin and a female backing singer group comprising artist Karin Mear, shiatsu masseur Hilda Benham and Nicky Bickerton and Leigh Hendra from the Hours Cafe & Bookshop.
“I hope people will connect with it, relate their own lives to it. It’s satirical, and humorous in parts, and shows how the arts can be used to express political opinion.
“Greed is very much a community project – it’s received no public funding so we are hoping that people will support it. We’re taking it out as a live show and I want to take it everywhere. However, the best scene scenario endgame is for theatre producers across the world to put on Greed. It’s universal, it was written that way.
I’d love to see productions of Greed in Australia, Spain, Brasil, New York, Berlin, Nebraska, Punxsutawney, Pontardawe, all over.”
Greed The Rock Opera premieres at Theatr Brycheiniog, Brecon on Friday February 27 and continues at Redhouse in Merthyr on Friday March 20. Call 01874 611622 for tickets or book online at www.brycheiniog.co.uk (Brecon) Call 01685 384111 or go to www.redhousecymru.com (Merthyr)