STUMPED: an opera about mythology and deforestation, 2023
Brian Cox Theatre at Glasgow Impact Arts
Research & Development Funded by the Creative Scotland Open Fund
Composer: Lewis Coenen-Rowe | Conductor: Thomas Butler | Designer: Hunter Muir
Cast: Shuna Sendall, Lea Shaw
Band: Alice Rickards, Sonia Cromarty, Andrew Connell-Smith and Robyn Anderson
STUMPED is a brand new one-act chamber opera by Lewis Coenen-Rowe, bringing together five old stories from varied times and places that are all united by a shared theme: what happens when you mess with trees. Why do people keep coming back to this theme and what does it tell us about human history? Are these stories or a warning, or does that just sound stupid? Join two users of an internet forum as they explore their way through these stories and wonder what they have to tell us about our relationship with forests today.
The performance was preceded by a discussion with leading experts on trees, forests and how these have been interpreted by human art and storytelling, including artist and forester Amy Clarkson, researcher Dr Ophira Gamliel, and Sally Clark from the campaign Biofuelwatch.