Boadicea - The Rock Opera

March 6th 2007

Boadicea - The Rock Opera

She’s powerful, she’s feisty and she’s worthy of her own Rock Opera.

So says New Zealand music maestro Clive Cockburn who created Boadicea - The Rock Opera, which opens in Auckland next month.

Cockburn, a three times Best Original Music Award Winner and five time nominee at the New Zealand Film Awards says he is thrilled to be bringing Boadicea’s story to life.

Boadicea was the young Celtic Queen who led 100,000 men and women into battle against the Roman army.

Auckland singer / actress Georgia Duder (international productions include The Mikado, Pirates Of Penzance, Les Miserablès for Cameron Macintosh, and ATC productions, most recently Sweet Charity) is Boadicea and is thrilled to be playing the Celtic warrior Queen.

“Boadicea is the most challenging role I’ve been asked to create, not only vocally and dramatically, but also because she is every woman; wife, mother, lover, leader and Queen. The things she sings about are relevant to today’s issues; pride of one’s country and cultural imperialism. That’s what drew me to the role - it’s really an opportunity to show just how powerful women can be when they choose to.”
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Boadicea - The Rock Opera tells of her last hours in 61 A.D. The opera starts in the early hours of the morning in the final battle between the Romans and Boadicea’s huge, but untrained army of farmers and common people, with their ‘wives, babes and dogs’. When Boadicea refused demands by the Romans to pay a fictitious loan to her late husband King Prasutagus, they raped her daughters and flogged her in front of her tribe, the Iceni.

The resulting Boadicean uprising caused the deaths of around 10% of the population in England and Wales. It is a classic revenge story which is only known through Roman sources, Dio Cassius and Tacitus. No British version exists.

Cockburn came across the story when English librettist Michael Hall contacted him asking for the composer to become involved.

Cockburn says Boadicea - The Rock Opera he created is an emotional roller coaster for the audience.

Set as a monologue/soliloquy and written as a ‘stream of consciousness’ Boadicea changes emotions in a heartbeat and makes it fascinating to watch.

One moment Boadicea is fearful and apprehensive and the next, full of loathing for the tax collector or the horse that killed her King Prasutagus, then she is sarcastic and pompous as she imitates the Romans. She swings to naïve and child-like remembering her King and then her own coronation. ‘The people love me!’

Cockburn says he’s stripped back the trappings of traditional opera’s to create a dramatic spectacle that relies on performance rather than stage set. It has all the elements of a great rock concert but at the same time tells a story.

“All we need is a singer and a few musicians. It’s the music and emotion that people remember. Of course you need lighting and a few other theatrical devices to help with the narration of the story. But the magic of Boadicea is in its simplicity.”

Cockburn is eager to make opera accessible to a whole new generation and Boadicea - The Rock Opera is an excellent platform on which to do this, at only 45 minutes long and sung in English it promises to captivate and delight a new audience.

“Boadicea is the best thing I’ve ever written. I’m really proud of it and Georgia is truly magnificent in the role. “

Georgia is joined by guitarist Rob Galley, bass player Neil Hannan and drummer Paul Dunningham with composer Clive Cockburn on keyboard.

Bookings: Tickets are available at Ticketek. Boadicea’s season runs from 15-31st March.

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