The History of Mr Polly is the first opera adaptation of HG Wells’ novel. In form, the opera is a comedy of manners, but subverted: the manners concerned are those of the lower middle classes. The central character is an anti-hero, who upends conventional morality and rejects Duty, in the pursuit of freedom and beauty.
The opera opens with Mr Polly railing against his ordained life: his shop isn’t paying, and he hates his wife. Part One traces his path to this intolerable and detestable existence in flashback. The composer uses tuneful vignettes and musical parodies to sketch portraits of the characters who touch Polly’s life and the commentary is assisted by a Greek chorus.
Inspired by his friend Parsons, and liberated by a small inheritance, Polly seeks freedom and beauty. The illusion of freedom is achieved through ownership of a bicycle, but his noble quest for beauty ends in cruel rejection. Smarting with humiliation, he commits two acts of folly: marriage to his cousin, and the purchase of a shop in Fishbourne.
15 years later, Polly faces an existential crisis of his own creation. The only solution possible is to destroy his life completely. Polly resolves to burn down the shop and cut his throat with a razor. Part One ends with the conflagration. The fire takes hold quickly, and Polly abandons thoughts of death. His rescue of an elderly neighbour sees him hailed as a hero, but he has failed. His shop is gone, yet he remains, chained to Miriam, Fishbourne and Duty.
Part Two will see Polly’s realisation that, if the world does not please you, you can change it. He rejects bourgeois morality, and instead stands on his reality and fights for things he loves and venerates. He overcomes three trials of Fire, Water and Combat. Wed but not wed, dead but not dead, he achieves his bliss: an Inn, a river, and BEAUTY.
The opera opens with Mr Polly railing against his ordained life: his shop isn’t paying, and he hates his wife. Part One traces his path to this intolerable and detestable existence in flashback. The composer uses tuneful vignettes and musical parodies to sketch portraits of the characters who touch Polly’s life and the commentary is assisted by a Greek chorus.
Inspired by his friend Parsons, and liberated by a small inheritance, Polly seeks freedom and beauty. The illusion of freedom is achieved through ownership of a bicycle, but his noble quest for beauty ends in cruel rejection. Smarting with humiliation, he commits two acts of folly: marriage to his cousin, and the purchase of a shop in Fishbourne.
15 years later, Polly faces an existential crisis of his own creation. The only solution possible is to destroy his life completely. Polly resolves to burn down the shop and cut his throat with a razor. Part One ends with the conflagration. The fire takes hold quickly, and Polly abandons thoughts of death. His rescue of an elderly neighbour sees him hailed as a hero, but he has failed. His shop is gone, yet he remains, chained to Miriam, Fishbourne and Duty.
Part Two will see Polly’s realisation that, if the world does not please you, you can change it. He rejects bourgeois morality, and instead stands on his reality and fights for things he loves and venerates. He overcomes three trials of Fire, Water and Combat. Wed but not wed, dead but not dead, he achieves his bliss: an Inn, a river, and BEAUTY.
