THE HANDMAID'S TALE Comes to San Francisco Opera This Month

San Francisco Opera will present the West Coast premiere of composer Poul Ruders and librettist Paul Bentley’s opera The Handmaid’s Tale, based on the bestselling novel by Margaret Atwood. Originally scheduled for the 2020–21 Season and delayed by the pandemic, this new co-production of San Francisco Opera and the Royal Danish Theatre, performed in English, opens September 14 for seven performances through October 1.

The two-act opera, which had its 2000 world premiere in Copenhagen in Poul Ruder’s Danish translation, is set in a post-American theocracy called Gilead in 2030, with flashback memories of “the time before.” Presented from the perspective of the handmaid Offred, a woman who is torn from her family and forced into reproductive servitude, the opera follows her bleak situation and courageous attempt to escape.

Ruders’ score, which mirrors and propels the intense, emotional story, utilizes a wide array of instruments including a sampler keyboard, digital piano and organ in addition to a large orchestra. The five percussionists in the pit play a variety of instruments including bass drum, wood block, glockenspiel, crotales, thunder sheet, sizzle strip, xylophone, anvil, tubular bells, vibraphone, snare drum, Bali gong, mark tree, rototom, tam-tam, metal chain, Chinese cymbal, guiro, hi-hat and basler drum.

Known for her commitment to championing 20th and 21st-century composers both in opera houses and on concert stages internationally, Grammy Award-winning American maestro Karen Kamensek returns to conduct Ruders’ haunting score, which includes echoes of “Amazing Grace,” a hymn from before the Gilead revolution. Kamensek made her San Francisco Opera debut in 2014 leading the Company premiere of Carlisle Floyd’s Susannah. John Fulljames, formerly Director of the Royal Danish Opera and Associate Director of London’s Royal Opera, stages a large cast, most of whom are making their role debuts.

Irene Roberts is known to San Francisco audiences for her acclaimed performances as the title role in Bizet’s Carmen, Bao Chai in Bright Sheng and David Henry Hwang’s Dream of the Red Chamber and as Dorabella in Mozart’s Così fan tutte for which OperaWire said, “Her voice was abundant, the tonal leaps from high to low, low to high, amply displayed her command of the music, as well as conveying emotional oscillation.” The American mezzo-soprano portrays Offred, The Handmaid’s Tale’s central character, for the first time.

Lindsay Ammann makes her Company debut as Serena Joy, a former Gospel singer who is the barren wife of Offred’s Commander in Gilead. Aunt Lydia, who indoctrinates Offred to life as a handmaid, is performed by soprano and former San Francisco Opera Adler Fellow Sarah Cambidge, last seen on the War Memorial Opera House stage as the Foreign Princess in the 2019 production of Dvořák’s Rusalka. John Relyea, a leading bass on the world’s opera stages and also a former graduate of the Merola and Adler Fellowship training programs, returns to San Francisco Opera after a 14-year absence for his role debut as The Commander. Relyea made his Company debut as Colline in La Bohème in 1996 and has performed many roles with the Company, including Figaro in Mozart’sLe Nozze di Figaro and Méphistophélès in Gounod’s Faust.

Mezzo-soprano and former Adler Fellow Simone McIntosh is the pre-revolution Offred, seen in flashbacks. Tenor Christopher Oglesby, who also performs in this fall’s productions of Un Ballo in Maschera, Tristan und Isolde and Carmen, is Luke, Offred’s husband from the before times. Brenton Ryan portrays her love interest, Nick. Rhoslyn Jones, Katrina Galka and current Adler Fellow Nikola Printz are the handmaids Ofglen, Janine/Ofwarren and the new Ofglen, respectively. Current Adler Fellow and soprano Caroline Corrales is Offred’s friend Moira; Gabrielle Beteag is Offred’s Mother; and Sara Couden and Matthew DiBattista make their Company debuts as Rita and the Doctor. Members of the San Francisco Chorus will perform solo roles of Handmaids, Wives, Aunts, Eyes (secret police) and guards, among others.

The creative team collaborating with director John Fulljames includes associate director Lucy Bradley, set designer Chloe Lamford (whose work for Kaija Saariaho’s Innocence was seen here this past summer), associate set designer Helen Hebert, costume designer Christina Cunningham, lighting designer Fabiana Piccioli, projection designer Will Duke, sound designer and mixing engineer Rick Jacobsohn and movement director Colm Seery. Maestro John Keeneprepares the San Francisco Opera Chorus.

Along with Ruders’ opera, Canadian author Margaret Atwood’s 1985 novel, The Handmaid’s Tale, has inspired many adaptations for stage and screen, including a 1990 film starring Natasha Richardson as Offred, a ballet by Lila York (2013) and the popular Hulu original series led by actress Elizabeth Moss, which is expected to release its sixth season next year. Atwood’s sequel, The Testaments, was published in 2019.

In recognition of San Francisco Opera’s opening night performance of The Handmaid’s Tale on Saturday, September 14, San Francisco City Hall will be lit in the red and white, the colors of the famous Handmaid uniform of red cape and white “wings” headdress.

Content Advisory: This opera closely follows the themes and narratives of the original novel with imagery and scenes of sexual and physical violence reflective of the dystopian setting (including depictions of rape and hanging). Viewer discretion is advised.

Sung in English with English supertitles, the seven performances of The Handmaid’s Tale are scheduled for September 14 (7:30 p.m.), 17 (7:30 p.m.), 20 (7:30 p.m.), 22 (2 p.m.), 26 (7:30 p.m.), 29 (2 p.m.); October 1 (7:30 p.m.), 2024.

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