The Handmaid’s Tale: Enduring Relevance, Redesigned

Joel Ivany Illustration by Dane Thibeault

Joel Ivany—Artistic Director of the Opera Program at the Banff Centre—has been experimenting with opera’s form, content, and containers for over a decade. Last year, alongside composer and arranger Daniel Schlosberg, conductor Kamna Gupta, and director Amanda Testini, he endeavoured to create a chamber adaptation of Poul Ruders’s opera The Handmaid’s Tale.

Responding to threatening authoritarian trends she perceived in the growing religious Right south of the border, Canadian author Margaret Atwood published The Handmaid’s Tale in 1985. The dystopian novel portrays a bleak and repressive near future, where individual rights—especially women’s rights—are curtailed and love has been replaced by duty to the state. In 1998, the Danish composer Poul Ruders began work on an opera adaptation of The Handmaid’s Tale, which the Royal Danish Opera premiered in 2000 to critical acclaim. Subsequent stagings have typically relied on British poet Paul Bentley’s English libretto, such as performances at the Canadian Opera Company—performed in 2004 in the wake of 9/11 and the Global War on Terrorism—as well as Boston Lyric Opera’s 2019 staging in a gymnasium on the Harvard University campus, presented two years into Donald Trump’s turbulent presidency.

Ivany chanced upon a copy of the musical score some ten years earlier, piquing an interest in staging the work himself. The opera, however, called for massive orchestral and vocal forces—15 soloists, a chorus, and a full orchestra—and the music complex, layered, and harmonically progressive. Ivany went to several opera companies with the idea of staging the opera but found that companies were hesitant to program an opera outside the standard rotation that carried with it considerable financial risks should it be received poorly.

After the pandemic, Ivany returned to the idea of staging the opera but wanted to experiment with reducing its length and the significant orchestration it calls for. Now at the helm of Edmonton Opera, Ivany enquired with the music publisher for rights to adapt the work and was put in touch with the composer, who gladly agreed to the adaptation. Next, Ivany secured funding for a workshop performance of the opera at the Banff Centre and began assembling his creative team. At the heart of the adaptation would be the changes to the score, and Ivany knew he required a gifted composer who understood the subtle art of orchestral reduction. He sought out composer-pianist Dan Schlosberg, and conductor Kamna Gupta. Working alongside Gupta would be Vancouver-based stage director Amanda Testini.

Workshop performances such as this one represent an important step in the process of developing an opera. They offer time for experimentation and a safe opportunity to learn what works (and pivot, if needed) ahead of the premiere. For instance, as part of the orchestral reduction, Schlosberg programmed many audio cues into one of two keyboards, which doubled as a harp, didgeridoo, and a litany of unique sound cues like a baby’s cry. “One major lesson from this workshop is how far in advance tech support needs to be planned,” shares Gupta. “Something like programming sound effects takes hours and hours of work to source the right sound, add the sound to the cue list, and then to make sure the sound is well-balanced within the ensemble. It's a lot to think about and organize.”

To more efficiently manage valuable resources, opera companies carefully consider the scale of new works they present. Full-scale operas are often planned far in advance, and new works can therefore become out of step with current events and audience appetites. The performance season (typically September through June) can also feel sparse with only a few mainstage operas a year. How can local audiences engage with the artform live in other ways between shows? Presenting smaller scale contemporary works is one of the most obvious answers and something many companies are increasingly building into their season. An added benefit of chamber performances is that first time opera-goers can experience opera in more intimate venues, seeing and hearing performers close-up. Also, in the absence of an established opera company, smaller local companies in regional centres can still afford to present live opera, and audiences can access more live opera than they otherwise would have.

Rehearsals for the workshop performance of The Handmaid’s Tale were held in the teaching wing of the Banff Centre and the Jenny Belzberg Theatre, where the final performance took place. Set against the stunning background of the Rocky Mountains and Bow Valley, the first dress rehearsal happened during a thunderstorm. The sounds of thunder could be heard by the singers and instrumentalists onstage, the fresh scent of rain permeated the entire theatre. By opening night, the cast and crew had lived together in the world of The Handmaid’s Tale for two weeks and were ready to showcase this new iteration of the opera.

As crowds filed in, they were greeted by an orchestra on stage (unusual for an opera) as well as projections that transformed the set into a sea of red cloaks and white hoods, figures hanging at The Wall, and even a TV that musically turned on for a scene in the Commander’s home. Quick scene changes, including several flashbacks, captured the deeply unsettling world of Atwood’s novel. Minimal lighting and prop elements brought just enough visual detail to the staging to enhance the music while leaving much in the hands of the orchestra and vocalists—and the imagination of the audience. In a theatre of just over 600 seats, no binoculars were needed. Brought close to the music and acting, the opera became a musical prayer, a bulwark against complacency and apathy, and a dire warning against authoritarianism’s brutal consequences to the human spirit.

What’s next for this opera adaptation of The Handmaid’s Tale? Ivany has secured the funding needed for Schlosberg to complete the remaining orchestral reduction. Taking into account lessons learned and new ideas generated from this workshop, another performance of the full adaptation is anticipated. Ivany is hesitant to share too many details of when, where, and with whom, but he is confident that the adaptation will make its way to opera producers—and Canadian audiences—in the not too distant future. Like The Handmaid’s Tale, experiments in scaling down contemporary grand opera have an important place in broadening the canon, responding to current events and political climates, and increasing access for Canadian audiences to the musical voices of our day. 

Indians on Vacation: “Stories don’t die. Stories stay alive as long as they’re told.”

Unlike a great deal of operas, the transformative power of Indians on Vacation doesn’t lie in the scale of its grandeur or the jaw-dropping virtuosity of its score. In fact, it’s the lack of either that makes it so compelling. The opera opens with the protagonist, the quasi-retired journalist Blackbird Mavrias (known as Bird) and his wife Mimi flying into Prague on what could be called a working vacation. They see all the legendary sites of the Czech capital—the Charles Bridge and the Kafka Museum serve as central settings in opera scenes—while also on a mission to find out what happened to the Crow Bundle, an heirloom of Mimi’s family that they hope will give them answers to what happened to Mimi’s Uncle Leroy. 

Here’s where we’ll go off script and spoil the ending: they don’t find out what happened—at least, not definitively. But the point of Indians on Vacation isn’t to lead the audience on a straight-line narrative to the gratification of a resolution. Rather, we’re invited into a series of miniatures that paint a fuller picture of Bird and Mimi’s emotional and physical conditions as they make their way around Prague; into the fullness of their story, with all of the mundane discomforts and joys that we all share every single day, no matter where we are in the world. 

This style of storytelling isn’t typical for opera, where the disguised demigod and deus ex machina reign supreme in the canon. Here, we get Bird and Mimi, dancing on the street as buskers play an unobtrusive bossa nova, the soundtrack for a couple that is, for the moment, carefree. 

The ending leaves Bird and Mimi just as they are in an act of defiance for what a story about the portrayal of Indigenous people should be in Eurocentric art forms. This is especially true of opera, which has only really started to come to grips with its role in reconciliatory storytelling practice in the last decade. Within these stories, room is left for the audience to live into the moments in which the characters live in a different way than constantly moving them through the story. 

This is something that other operas sharing Indigenous stories have demonstrated across Canada in recent years, as was the case with Li Keur: Riel’s Heart of the North, which was performed at Manitoba Opera in November of 2023. Rather than tracing the chronology of Riel’s life, the opera allowed for the audience to live into the stories being told, inviting them into the experiences of the characters onstage. Indians on Vacation achieves something similar. Operas within an Indigenous context are less a rushing river and more of a gently flowing stream; still flowing to a common place, and certainly making waves, but not in any particular hurry to get you there. The point is being in the current. 

Alongside the picturesque Bow River in the Rocky Mountains, Indians on Vacation drives home the value of sitting within a story, regardless of how it is shared. “Stories don’t die. Stories stay alive as long as they’re told.” 

But what is the cost of holding onto and sharing these stories? Certainly when it comes Indigenous stories, there is not a small price to be paid. As a base level, these stories are steeped in a deep oral tradition and rich culture, but also contain a great pain imbibed with colonial trauma. This cost is something that is constantly being paid by Bird throughout the opera in the form of the five demons he carries with him throughout the opera. Desi (despair), Didi (depression), Kitty (catastrophizing), Chip (his cynicism) and Eugene (self-loathing). They all chime in on Bird’s experiences throughout the opera, from the cynicism he shows about the condition of refugees he sees on the Hungarian border, to the catastrophe he creates goes through on his visit to the specialist.

Emotionally poignant scenes, when mixed with all of the other mundanities of the opera, create a fulsome view of Indigenous characters that is still being established as the norm in the opera world. There certainly isn’t a false sense of positivity professed anywhere by the show’s characters, but Indians on Vacation is also not a story that lives in the negatives. Bird and Mimi contain multitudes throughout the opera. They just… are. Their story is an Indigenous existence, not the Indigenous existence. Their joys and sorrows are captured in equilibrium. 

The ending of Indians on Vacation leaves the audience member in the middle of joy and sorrow: life, just as it is for 98% of the days of our lives. It rides the sum of the stories it tells to neutrality at its conclusion, when the bows are set to the same bossa nova orchestra that you might hear in a museum entrance or hotel elevator. While this doesn’t give us the satisfying dramatic endings of La Traviata or Tosca, it gives us real people. 

Chamber Music, New Operas, What’s Next? 

In between rehearsals for The Handmaid’s Tale and Indians on Vacation, singers and instrumentalists were kept busy with coachings, lessons, and workshops on chamber music and new operas by participating composers and librettists. Added to the mix were Opera Pubs at the Banff Legion, a 24-hour Opera Project about the famed “merman of Banff,” and masterclasses with Karen Slack, Lisette Oropesa, Marion Newman, Gordon Gerrard, and others. The outcomes were immense: a dozen or so performances to hundreds of audience members, bringing together performers and instructors from around the world. 

The workshop performance of Indians on Vacation was as much a learning experience for the show’s creative team as it was for participants, and provided everyone involved with valuable insights into what worked and what didn’t. This was the fourth workshop of the opera, which has been in development since 2021, when it was—in short-form—part of Edmonton Opera’s Wild Rose Project. It then moved north to Dawson City, Yukon, where Against the Grain Theatre—an opera company with a focus on developing original Canadian operas—endeavoured to expand it into a full-length opera, and commissioned it to be presented in 2025. More recently, it was workshopped by the University of Toronto’s Opera School, a collaboration led by conductor Sandra Horst. The performance at Interplay afforded composer Ian Cusson the chance to hear and modify his orchestrations; librettist Royce Vavrek the opportunity to rework his libretto if need be; and mezzo-soprano Marion Newman, who has been singing the role of Mimi since she was first brought to the stage in 2021, the chance to sing the expanded opera in a semi-staged format before she premieres it. Co-comissioners Edmonton Opera and Against the Grain (AtG) will premiere the work in February of 2026, with much of AtG’s initial creative team intact: Newman will debut her rendition of Mimi, joined by baritone Grant Youngblood as Bird, and playwright/director Yvetto Nolan will direct. They will be joined by conductor Simon Rivard, who previously worked on AtG’s Sāvitri. 

Ian Cusson, Composer

Royce Vavrek, Librettist

Marion Newman, Mezzo-Soprano

Grant Youngblood, Baritone

While Interplay’s chamber version of Poul Rouders’ The Handmaid’s Tale has yet to be picked up by other opera companies, the Banff Centre will continue to develop it this coming summer, with a second workshop of the chamber arrangement. 

Perhaps the most powerful and inspiring thing to come out of these four weeks, though, was the sense of creative community generated by our work at the Banff Centre. Real people making art about real people, grounded by a true appreciation for each other and the place they were living and working in.