dorset opera | 2012 production | Le Carrosse du Saint-Sacrement

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2012 | Le Carrosse du Saint-Sacrement | performance dates and brief synopsis

Le Carrosse du Saint-Sacrement
(The Viceroy's Carriage) A comic opera in one act by Lord Berners

Based on a story by Prosper Mérimée
Sung in English


The Viceroy	tbc
Martinez, the Viceroy's secretary	tbc
Balthasar, the Viceroy's servant	tbc
Camilla Pericola, (La Périchole) the Viceroy's Mistress	tbc
Thomas d'Esquivel, the town clerk	tbc
The Bishop of Lima	tbc

Conductor	Jeremy Carnall
Director	Paul Carr
Designer	tbc
Costume Designer	tbc
Lighting Designer	tbc

Dorset Opera Orchestra: Leader - Robert Gibbs

Performances
The Coade Theatre,
Bryanston,
Blandford Forum,
Dorset
DT11 0PX
26, 28 July 2012 at 7.00pm

Brief Synopsis
(The Carriage of the Blessed Sacrament or The Viceroy's Coach)

Set in Lima, the Viceroy of Peru, supposedly suffering from gout, is confined to his apartments instead of going to the cathedral to attend a magnificent ceremony in front of the whole city. He is discussing his mistress, Camilla Pericola, when the lady herself arrives. La Pericola charms the Viceroy into letting her drive his exceedingly expensive and brand new coach to the ceremony. She wants to be the envy of the whole city. Instead, she manages to cause a chaotic scandal by up-turning another coach. She returns to the Viceroy with the Bishop of Lima in tow, to inform him that henceforth the coach is to serve to carry the Blessed Sacrament to dying Peruvians in outlying villages. While the infatuated Viceroy accepts and even admires her pious action, the Bishop delights in possessing such a magnificent prize.

Apparently, Mérimée's original play has some foundation in fact. Sir Frederick Ashton, as a boy, brought up in Peru, met a man who had actually seen the coach of the title. Berners set the French text, cutting some of the earlier scenes, and completed the work in 1920. The world premiere was given at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Paris, on 24 April 1924.

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