A New Topography of Love premieres at the Regional Cultural Centre on Friday 23rd September 2022 for Culture Night! Can you beat the top score?!
A New Topography of Love is an animated video-game opera experience played on a bespoke arcade console. It tells the tale of the earth-ravaged by waste and excess and almost too late to save-but the animals that remain become our teachers, reminding us of the essence of living and that there is nothing more important than our voice. The piece plays out across three interactive levels, all with one goal in common – to spread the love.
In a debut collaboration with Whitepot Studios, we pay homage to the beloved, yet nearly forgotten,1970s video game culture (think Space Race and Pacman). A bespoke arcade console will bring back communal gaming where participation and vocal reactions are highly encouraged. This immersive animated video-game opera experience encourages players to reflect on current issues we are facing on our planet in a highly amusing, yet thoughtful way.
Credits: Written and directed by John McIlduff, composed by Brian Irvine, illustrated by Stephen Maurice Graham, video game design by Whitepot Studios, animated by Conan McIvor.
Supported by the Bank of Ireland Begin Together Arts Fund in partnership with Business to Arts.
Street Art Operas – Double Bill
Dumbworld’s Street Art Operas, written and directed by John McIlduff and with music by Brian Irvine, are a unique blend of opera, contemporary orchestral music, street art and animation, presented as a mapped video and sound installation.
They are designed to be experienced in public spaces, with the audio transmitted to wireless headphones and the unique format of these innovative works creates a communal, yet artistically intimate listening experience.
Each opera is approximately 10 minutes in duration and is looped to allow for a continuous stream of audiences to experience the works.
- TWO ANGELS PLAY I SPY
Two Angels stand high on a building overlooking the city, peering into the past and into the future as they wait for their duties to kick in. To pass the time, they play I Spy, but only as angels can…
- DRIVE BY SHOOTING
As with much opera, Drive By Shooting is a story of passion and revenge, but this one plays out an age-old scene of betrayal and revenge on a grimy city street, as two octogenarians on Zimmer frames stage a hit on a cheating husband. An old woman has discovered that her husband of 60 years has been having an affair with the next door neighbour and chases after him to “Shoot the fecker in the pecker” which is Dublinspeak for shoot the very bad man where it hurts the most. The woman’s friend tries to stop her but is won over by a simple argument: she will be better taken care of in prison than on her pitiful pension!
“The visuals are gritty and vivid, a street-art aesthetic laced with tender heart. The music is punch, searing, propulsive, extravagant, apposite.” Herald Scotland
“This wickedly funny, animated mini-opera about octogenarian revenge is a complete treat” Edinburgh Festival Mag
“It is the perfect introduction for an opera novice and an exciting and challenging alternative for die hard opera goers.” Youth Opera Review
ABOUT DUMBWORLD
Dumbworld is one of Northern Ireland’s most creative and versatile arts organisations, with a national and international reputation for the quality, breadth, inclusivity and impact of its artistic work. Established in 2009, by composer Brian Irvine and writer/director John McIlduff Dumbworld is an artist led, multi-disciplinary production company that uses opera, animation, orchestral oratorio, arts installation and virtual reality to create participatory, exciting, innovative, relevant & inspiring contemporary performance art.
Dumbworld was formed with the specific aim of creating bold, visceral and radical multi-media works that connect with people and grapple with contemporary, relevant, social, political and human concerns.
Dumbworld have won or been shortlisted for many awards including the British Composers Award, Irish Times Theatre Award, Irish Allianz Arts Award, Ellen Stewart International Arts Award, Total Theatre Award for Innovation and Paul Hamlyn Foundation Composers Award.
Dumbworld is funded by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, Belfast City Council and Arts Council Ireland.
A New Topography of Love is supported by the Bank of Ireland Begin Together Arts Fund in partnership with Business to Arts
