by Jenifer Toksvig (book & lyrics)
and Dominic Haslam (music)
and Dominic Haslam (music)
Coppelia is loosely based on E. T. A. Hoffman's gothic short story The Sandman, which inspired Sigmund Freud to write an essay on Das Unheimliche - The Uncanny.
'Heimlich' means home-like, familiar. 'Unheimlich' means eerie, strange. The Uncanny is the supervening of an earlier unconscious event upon a later one: the subject experiences something as that which is both strange and familiar, odd but intimate, alien but all too close.
Coppelia is the story of a man who is due to be married to the perfect wife when he falls in love with the perfect woman...
Click on the song titles to listen to some rough early demos of music from the show, recorded by the writers
The Meadow
Nathaniel imagines himself in a meadow, but his train of thought is repeatedly broken and he struggles to stay in the dream.
The Waltz
Dr Coppelius encourages Nathaniel to dance with Coppelia on the night they meet.
Focus
Dr Coppelius, disguised as a telescope salesman, persuades Nathaniel to see Coppelia through new eyes.
Ultimately, the intention was to create this as an hour-long piece that would be recurring; a continuous piece of theatre that could go round and round all day.
The disjointed nature of the material was intended to serve the idea of a musical as an art installation in a gallery or other open public space, where the audience would not be constrained by traditional theatre seating.
The 'staging' was intended to consist of a large round music box constructed with cogs and levers that actively changed the characters' environment. These would be designed to be manipulated by the audience, who were invited to move up to the space, participate if they so desired, and move on at will. This would enable them to return to the piece some time later if they wished, and therefore perhaps experience different sections of the show in a different order to the linear performance.
The development process included a reading for John Caird, a workshop at the Bridewell Theatre in London, and a reading at the Actors Centre in London through Mercury Musical Developments' collaboration with ANMT.
