The Garden @ Paterson's Land

The intimate space of Paterson's Land is perfect for this exquisite mini-opera, first performed at Aberdeen's Sound Festival, by the husband and wife team, John Harris (composer) and Zinnie Harris (librettist) based on Zinnie's play.

A bump in the kitchen lino, a sprouting leaf which grows into a tree, threatens to crack more than concrete in a couple's barren marriage. All is not well in a post-apocalyptic world, where nothing usually grows. Why the couple decide to uproot it becomes tragically clear as their relationship unravels and hope, symbolised by the tree, recedes, a poignant reversal of the Garden of Eden story. If only they had tasted the apple... The opera is half-spoken and half-sung by the superb and affecting Pauline Knowles and Alan McHugh who were chosen specifically because they are both primarily actors, and for Zinnie and John, the clarity of the words was essential.

Beautifully written, the libretto is economic and precise, every word advancing the tension. The singing and electronic music also cleverly rises out of the speech – with melodic fragments, reminiscent of plain-chant, rare mini-arias, such as the ecstatic moment when the leaf becomes a tree. Played live on a synthesizer with computer-effects, such as the drone deriving from a sine-tone generator, the non-naturalistic world evoked blends perfectly with the words. This sparse mini-opera reminds you where real quality lies.