A ‘Handmaid’s Tale’ opera is coming to Boston
"Of all the projects I’ve ever done, this is the one that least needs an explanation of why we are doing it," director Anne Bogart said in a press release.
“The Handmaid’s Tale” is coming to Boston — and we don’t mean Margaret Atwood’s novel or the Emmy Award-winning television show.
The Boston Lyric Opera will close its 2018-19 season with a presentation of “The Handmaid’s Tale” opera, based on the iconic 1985 novel. The four performances will run from May 5 through May 12, and will be held at Harvard University’s Lavietes Pavilion, a fitting spot considering large portions of Atwood’s book take place in a dystopian version of Cambridge.
The operatic version of ‘The Handmaid’s Tale” actually predates the Hulu show (which will return for its third season on June 5) by more than a decade, having originally been written by Danish composer Poul Ruders and librettist Paul Bentley in 2000.
Director Anne Bogart said in a press release that “The Handmaid’s Tale” raises concerns that are “on everyone’s minds right now.”
“Of all the projects I’ve ever done, this is the one that least needs an explanation of why we are doing it,” Bogart said in the release. “Every once in a while, a piece of literature, a fiction, or a painting becomes so meaningful to a culture that everyone pays attention, and the culture is changed because of it.”
Tickets for “The Handmaid’s Tale” range in price from $25-182 and are now available online at blo.org/tickets, by phone at 617-542-6772, and by email at [email protected].
