Galway International Arts Festival: Mars
Leisureland
Photo: Al Higgins
Composer: Jennifer Walshe
Libretto: Mark O’Connell
Co-directors: Tom Creed and Jennifer Walshe
Conductor: Elaine Kelly
Four astronauts and an AI software interface are cooped up in the cabin of a space-craft for nine months on a mission to Mars.
As they journey across the vast abyss of space, tensions rise, relationships are tested, seasons of Real Housewives are watched and re-watched.
Arriving on the red planet, they confront isolation, sinister ideologies, the prospect of alien life, and a vibe-shift toward corporate authoritarianism. Mars is an opera about space colonisation, reactionary futurism, pronatalism, the madness of hustle culture, and the unsettling futures encroaching on our present.
Featuring the Irish National Opera Orchestra.
Sung in English with English surtitles.
Commissioned by Irish National Opera, Muziekgebouw Amsterdam and Klangforum Wien.
Date & Time
25–27 July, 8pm
Tickets
€32–€40, booking at giaf.ie.
Duration
2 hours approx. with interval.