Girl I Left Behind Me
‘... I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s thinking; hang on a minute; “I seem to have the knack of pleasing ladies.” In trousers? With short hair? In public? Was that allowed? Indeed it was.’
A cool and contemporary look at one of the most intriguing aspects of musical theatre – just what is it that makes a woman in trousers so appealing? Accompanied by a piano, mezzo-soprano Jessica Walker dons a few well-chosen items of male attire, giving a supremely well-sung performance that conjures up an entire world, from the swaggering cross-dressers of the Victorian Music Hall to the ambiguous boy-heroes of Mozart and Strauss, to the back-room bulldykes of the Harlem Renaissance. Commissioned and produced by Opera North Projects with the Southbank Centre touring partner Welcome to Yorkshire. The Girl I Left Behind Me is a provocative, flirtatious, personal one woman-guide which deliciously recalls a forgotten chapter of female performance.
The Girl I Left Behind Me will be performed at The Barbican Centre in November 2011 as part of the Bite Season.
Neil Bartlett is one of his generation's most respected and innovative theatre directors. His highly individual translations of French and German classical theatre and characteristically theatrical adaptations of Dickens, most of them originated while he was Artistic Director of the Lyric Hammersmith in London, have been played around the world. His plays have premiered at the Royal Court, at the Manchester International Festival and at the National Theatre in London.
Jessica Walker has enjoyed a successful career in both opera and cross-over repertoire, in Britain and internationally. Recent engagements include Gloria in Weill’s One Touch of Venus at Opera North and Peep Bo in The Mikado for Reis Opera, Netherlands.