The Yellow Wallpaper
'The Yellow Wallpaper' is based on the novel of the same name by Charlotte Gilman Perkins, to music composed by Ronald Corp OBE and with a libretto by Francis Booth.The story, set in the 19th century, centers on the nameless Narrator, whose passion for writing is stifled by her misguided but loving husband, John. She is forced to undergo the infamous Dr. Weir Mitchell’s “rest cure” and her subsequent descent into insanity is used by Gilman to protest the medical and professional oppression against women at the time. In the ballet, the Narrator has been divided into three parts – mind, body and voice - represented by an actress, a dancer, and an opera singer (unseen) respectively. Through this division of the role, the hideous reality of dissociative psychosis is made apparent.
Choreography: Paul Chantry
Lighting design: Owain Davies