Behind God’s Back
A miniature opera
2020
Libretto by Emma Harding
3 singers (soprano, mezzo-soprano, bass) + 6 players (fl., cl., vln., vla., vc., pno.)
18’
This is a true story.
The fly-blown summer of 1919. A remote Hungarian village. While the men have been away fighting in the war, the women have enjoyed their new lives of independence. Suzanna is the village midwife and medicine woman, and has become a woman of influence.
But now the men have returned from the trenches. As has their culture of casual brutality. Suzanna’s not missed her husband, Julius, or the bruises he leaves. Her neighbour, Adel, is adjusting to the new reality of a husband who’s come back mutilated and shell-shocked. And now she has to put up with Julius’ attentions.
But both women know that revenge is a dish best served with arsenic.
Joseph Howard’s Behind God’s Back is the piece with the greatest dramatic and musical impact. It makes a powerful conclusion to the hour.
Julia Rank, The Stage