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Lyrics - Liberetta
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Text for SCM Composition Students, Short Opera - 30 June 2014
Liberetto - Alison Marshall, Requested by Matthew Hindson
1. IPhone Stories; 2. Song of the Refugee; 3. Soundscape
iPhone Stories
iPhone Stories
Characters: Soprano Stellar Rose; Tenor Ray
Scene 1 STELLAR'S BEDROOM
( the room is covered in clothes, bags and shoes. Stellar wakes and begins to look for
her phone)
Stellar I've lost my phone! I've lost my phone!
My messages, my mail, my home ---page
I've lost my phone! I've lost my phone!
I'm off-line. Unreachable. Alone.
Somewhere in the night
I Lost my phone
I’ve lost his number!
I finally meet a guy, and
I lose his number!
I met him at the nightclub
So slick in party foam
Our eyes met; Fixed
Under the disco dome
I'll never see him now
I can’t receive his calls
He'll think I'm not interested
In seeing him at all.
Scene 11 RAY'S LOUNGE ROOM.
(He is groping and pawing Stellar's phone)
Ray I've got her phone, I've got her phone.
I met her in the nightclub queue
Her name is Stellar Rose
Her mirror eyes distracting
In her tightly fitting clothes
She left it on the bar last night
So I thought I'd keep it safe
Now we're sure to meet again
As star crossed lovers, touched by fate
(searching Stellar's phone)
I have her emails, Her private details.
No password to Unlock
Her friends, Her family, Her contacts
Its really not invasive, its the only thing to do
Just a little pretence, but my heart is true
Now I have her e-address
I can let her know
That Ray from the club; has found her phone
Scene III STELLAR'S BEDROOM
(She rummages around clothes and bags on desk)
Stellar My laptop! Where’s my laptop!
Of course! I send a message ( finds laptop begins to use)
I've got mail! I’ve got mail!
(Reading email)
'I have found your phone
My name is Ray we met last night
Under the disco dome
Id like to return it
if your free today
How about midday
At the Slywalk Cafe'
Scene IV SLYWALK CAFE
(Ray is seated at an outside table, Stellar enters, recognises Ray, and joins him)
Stellar Oh thank you Ray, you found my phone
(picks up her phone from table)
So good of you to contact me
and make the time to meet here
Ray You left it at the bar
When you wanted to go home
I thought it would get stolen
In that club, anything goes
Stellar I am so glad you found it
I am so relieved
Its refreshing to meet a person
who you can believe
Ray Its no trouble
no trouble at all
I had to access your email
I hope you didn’t mind
There really was no other way
To find... you, Stellar Rose (places hand on Stellar' hand)
Ray And Stellar
You really wonder these days
when you lose your phone
All your private details are suddenly exposed
Your Photos, your music, your secret codes
That very private video... compromised
Your whole world, gone viral, streamed online.
Song of the Refugee
Characters: Soprano Stellar Alyia; Tenor Ahmet brother of Alyia
Scene 1 A SMALL DILAPIDATED BOAT ON A VAST OCEAN
(boat powered by a smoking engine, overcrowded. Ahmet and Alyia standing together at
stern of boat.)
Alyia We have come so far
Through war and horror
Escaping Bombs of Blood and fire
Secret paths, and border crossings
Guides and thieves without honour
Nightmare scenes of death and terror
Ahmet So long have we waited
In hideouts and dugouts
In underground cities
of hidden rooms
Where dreams of freedom stagnate
So long we have waited
Alyia Now we are free
Thou half-starved and thirsty
Travelling across a vast ocean
To A new future. In a new country
Ahmet I hear an engine (looks out to horizon)
A ship approaches fast
See on the east horizon
It’s large and white with many flags
And it’s heading straight for us
SCENE 11 IMMIGRATION PROCESSING CENTRE.
(The group of refugees from the boat are sitting in rows on mats, on the floor of a large
building. Navy issue blankets around them. Alyia and Ahmet are sitting together)
Ahmet The Navy has captured us
We are there prisoners now
We sit. Cordoned on the floor
Seeking asylum on this hot foreign shore
Waiting for the men in uniform
To decided our fate
Alyia I have no passport, I have no papers
My only possessions I carry
I have no family, I have no country
We only have each other
My brother Ahmet and I
Alyia and Ahmet:
We have done no wrong
We have no bad intentions
We are fleeing from persecution
We seek asylum in a free country
SCENE 111 OFF SHORE DETENTION CENTRE
(Ahmet and Alyia have been separated. Alyia stage left Ahmet stage right.)
Alyia and Ahmet
We are illegal aliens on our home planet earth
Marooned from all our hopes to be free
and all our suffering at journeys end
Leads us back to prison again
Behind the wire. Exiled. On this nowhere island steaming
Longing for my home, my kind, my kin
Besieged by water, sharks and reefs
In a metal hut; drowning in grief
I am a refuge
Stripped of my humanity
My spirit broken; mercy mercy
All we want is sanctuary
Soundscape
This text is designed for composition students who may like to write a soundscape type
short opera, for any combination of voices. The subject deals with the passage
between different worlds, or dimensions, to transcend physical, emotional and
spiritual spaces.
Stairwell. carpet quite Ascending
Passageway. curiosity Winding
Corridor. narrow view Leading
Rotunda. compass Bering Exit
Backdoor. plate glass Sliding.
Liftwell. hinge noise Descending
Concourse. heavy- heeled Striding
Runway. take off Speeding Countdown
Launchpad. rockets Combusting
Slipstream. particle Dragging
River Channel. ferryman Crossing
Pilgrim Bridge. tension wire Suspending Link
Causeway. lands end Connecting
Boomgate. Secret code Entry
Mineshaft. pressure deep Descending
Tunnel. dark ore Excavating Escape
Airlock. cavernous Breathing
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