Tim Benjamin

composer, writer, storyteller

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Opera & Theatre

Work in opera and for the theatre

Tim Benjamin has composed numerous operas (listed below), and has often directed them on stage and on tour (usually with his opera company Radius Opera).

A scene from Madame X (2014)
A scene from Madame X (2014)

The Fire Of Olympus; or, On Sticking It To The Man (2019)

The Fire Of Olympus; or, On Sticking It To The Man is a two-act opera based on the Baroque style of Handel's Italian operas. It draws on the myths of Prometheus and Pandora, portraying the original theft of Fire from Olympus, but presented in a dystopian vision of the present day, in which Zeus is the overbearing President of Olympus.

R.I.P. (2015)

R.I.P. (2015)

R.I.P. is a one-act opera, based on the short story Life as a series of questions and exclamations by Anton Chekhov, translated and adapted by Tim Benjamin.

Silent Jack (2015)

Silent Jack (2015)

Telling the dark tale of history's only female highwayman, Silent Jack: His Sorrowful Lamentation and Last Farewell to the World is a one-act opera with a libretto by Anthony Peter and Tim Benjamin.

Madame X (2014)

Madame X (2014)

A full-length opera inspired by Jacobean "revenge tragedy", Madame X toured the UK in the summer of 2014 to much critical and audience acclaim.

Emily (2013)

Emily (2013)

A full-length opera on the subject of the Suffragette Emily Davison, Emily, with a world premiere production in summer 2013.

The Rosenhan Experiment (2013)

The Rosenhan Experiment (2008, rev. 2013)

A reworking of my 2008 one-act opera The Rosenhan Experiment, for countertenor and ensemble, first performed at New Music North West 2013. Click through for the video of this performance!

  • Music by Tim Benjamin
  • Libretto by David Rosenhan, adapted by Tim Benjamin
  • More information

Le gâteau d'anniversaire (2010)

Le gâteau d'anniversaire (2010)

With a text in French, Le gâteau d’anniversaire is an allegorical comedy in one act about an artisan baker, Louis, who falls asleep dreaming of all the kinds of bread he can make. In his dreams, he is attacked by two phantoms, Marie and Antoinette, who tell him he must make cake, which he abhors. He drives them away by reciting the Déclaration des droits de l'Homme, but the eventually behead him! At length he wakes up from his nightmare, only to discover that he has forgotten to bake a birthday cake for his twin daughters, Olympe and Theroigne.

Mrs Lazarus (2009)

Mrs Lazarus (2009)

Based on the poem of the same name by Carol Ann Duffy, Mrs Lazarus is a one-act opera for soprano and ensemble.

A Dream of England (2009)

A Dream of England (2009)

A "musical drama" in one act, portraying an elderly Charles Darwin poring over his diaries from the voyage of the Beagle, created for the 200th anniversary of his birth, and 150th anniversary of On the Origin of Species in 2009.

  • Music by Tim Benjamin
  • Words by Charles Darwin, adapted by Tim Benjamin
  • More information

The Corley Conspiracy (2007)

The Corley Conspiracy (2007)

A piece of multimedia theatre in which "Corley" (for that is not his real name) is depicted within his conspiracy theory, along with the long-suffering online public, and the mysterious "EMAIL PROTECTED". The work is constructed from a deluge of Usenet posts dating from the early days of the public Internet.

  • Music by Tim Benjamin
  • Words by "Mike Corley", adapted by Tim Benjamin and Sean Starke
  • More information

The Bridge (1996)

The Bridge (1996)

The Bridge is based on tense UN-sponsored negotiations between warring factions. The drama takes place in a remote Scandinavian villa, at the home of a couple and their young son, Jan, who is symbolically engaged in his school project, the building of a large model bridge.