E L S E W H E R E
Elsewhere is a new opera by Michael Gallen based on the radical story of the 1919 Monaghan Asylum Soviet, made in co-production with the Abbey Theatre, in association with French ensemble Miroirs Étendus and Once Off Productions.
Described by the Irish Times as “an extraordinary, shocking, funny, and, ultimately, moving piece of contemporary theatre” , Elsewhere premiered at the Abbey Theatre on November 15th, 2021 to widespread critical acclaim and enjoyed a sell-out national tour in Spring 2024. It was nominated for the 2021 Fedora Prize for Opera.
"...riotous carnival dreams, musical warmth and incidental truths...this is a show that needs to be seen and heard – and more than once. It deserves to run and run." ***** - GoldenPlec
"Elsewhere is an extraordinary, shocking, funny, and, ultimately, moving piece of contemporary theatre." - The Irish Times - "Best of 2021"
“Elsewhere is a radical work, and a timely one. It’s a collectivist opera in form and spirit." - Journal of Music
"...a wildly engaging experience...sensitively and beautifully crafted. A cacophony of delight that is fun, thought provoking, and often moving." **** - The Arts Review
“A piece of contemporary music of considerable emotional and indeed political weight." - No More Workhorse
In 1919, the staff of the Monaghan Asylum barricaded the hospital gates and declared themselves an independent Soviet commune. Their strike brought asylum workers and patients together in collective action, presenting a revolutionary vision of what a care-centred society could look like.
The moment of the Soviet is in constellation with our own, occurring during the 1918 Flu pandemic, and at a time when social and geographical borders were being redrawn. Marked by death and hardship, the strikers overcame sectarian divides to demand humane conditions and equal pay for women and men.
In Elsewhere, these events unfold through the visions of Celine, a patient who decades later remains ‘locked in’ to the moment of the Soviet, believing herself to be its leader. Through her interactions with the charismatic ‘Inspector of Lunatics’ we tread the borders between fantasy and incarceration.
Drawing upon the hum of murmured rosaries, the eccentric lilt of the border dialect and the glitched ornamentation of Oriel sean nós song, Elsewhere’s score melds a delicate, introspective complexity with the raucous energy of revolt.
The libretto is co-written by Michael Gallen with poet Annemarie Ní Churreáin and playwright Dylan Coburn Gray, and the production brings together a team of renowned Irish artists and rising international stars, led by director Tom Creed and conductor Fiona Monbet. Singers and instrumentalists play a range of characters from patients and strikers to Marx and Jehovah, shape-shifting between work routines, football matches, negotiations, dances – in a dynamic that is both playful and uncanny. Over time we discover how Celine’s fate and that of the Soviet are entwined.
Dealing with themes of freedom, care and mental illness, Elsewhere explores the imagined future of a forgotten past.
