The Intelligence Park

Dublin, 1753. A frustrated and impoverished opera composer’s work goes into a spin when he falls for his lead castrato – but then the castrato elopes with the composer’s rich fiancee, causing chaos and catastrophe all round.

Gerald Barry’s operas are like no other – daring, surreal, and often laugh-out-loud funny. The Intelligence Park exploded on to the stage in London in 1990, introducing an operatic voice to the world.

Almost 30 years on, director/designer Nigel Lowery’s new, messed-up Baroque production rediscovers its zoo of emotions, characters and absurdities in a blurring of imagination and reality, as it explores notions of sexuality, ambition and obligation.