SYNOPSIS

In our opera, three travellers embark on a quest to reveal the hidden secrets of the southernmost continent, Antarctica.  

They move from a place of darkness to light; it feels as if they move from the present to the past.  They are going toward something but they are also running away from something. They come to a land without people; a land of nothingness; where each of the characters comes face to face with the white, the endless white.

Antarctica is about enlightenment and movement into knowledge; it’s about the scientific quest of discovery and mythic iconography; maps and journeying on a physical and metaphysical level; the quest of human beings into the soul - a spiritual journey; it’s about the fringes of the world and coming from the fringes of the world; Antarctica as a place of fear–inspiring majesty.

PROLOGUE

The final two journal entries from The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym as he journeys to Antarctica:

March 21st

‘A sullen darkness now hovered above us–but from out of the milky depths of the ocean a luminous glare arose, and stole up along the bulwarks of the boat.  We were nearly overwhelmed by the white ashy shower which settled upon us and upon the canoe, but melted into the water as it fell.  The summit of the cataract was utterly lost in the dimness and distance. Yet we were evidently approaching it with a hideous velocity.  At intervals, there were visible in it wide, yawning, but momentary rents, and from out of these rents, within which was a chaos of flitting and indistinct images, there came rushing and mighty, but soundless winds, tearing up the enkindled ocean in their course.’

March 22nd

‘The darkness had materially increased, relieved only by the glare of the water thrown back from the white curtain before us.  Many gigantic and pallidly white birds flew continuously now from beyond the veil, and their scream was the eternal Tekeli–lia! As they retreated from our vision.  Hereupon Nu–Nu stirred in the bottom of the boat; but upon touching him, we found his spirit departed.  And now we rushed into the embraces of the cataract, where a chasm threw itself open to receive us. But there arose in our pathway a shrouded figure, very far larger in its proportions than any dweller among men.   And the hue of the skin of the figure was of the perfect whiteness of snow.’

ACT ONE – Tabula Rasa

In a shadowy, contemporary world, a meeting takes place. A group has been assembled. They represent a variety of types; a cartographer, a micro-biologist and a theologian. The cartographer (who has brought them together) reveals a map, which she has discovered. It shows a secret continent, a hidden land at the bottom of the earth. Is it good? Is it bad? Does it hold an elusive wisdom? Is it Utopia or can it be exploited? They speculate, they calculate, they imagine, they argue; they agree to travel together at once.

ACT TWO – Voyage & Passage

On nearing Antarctica, the wind ceases and the group encounters a voice.  It is the voice of a siren that seems to come from a distance. They do not see the siren, yet it whispers in their ear. A figure emerges from the mist to translate the siren songs. An ultimatum is put to them: Each traveller is to offer one story to save their lives. It is to be a story that enchants her, or death will ensue.

None of the searchers can think of a story. Instead, they draw on a memory from childhood. The cartographer recalls an incident where she became lost; the micro-biologist a delirious dream from a long sickness; the Theologian, a deviation from his path to God. Each tale builds on the previous to create intensity. Eventually, the voice is appeased and guides them to Antarctica.

ACT THREE – White Light

The adventurers reach a white land and disembark. This icy world is seductive, beautiful. They are foreign to this place, but it seems familiar. Wherever they move, they leave black smears on the whiteness. As they explore, from far away, drawing nearer, is a sound, a heavenly, metaphysical sound. Suddenly, a darkness befalls. They are overwhelmed by a white ashy shower which settles upon them. In their path, an enormous white figure arises out of nowhere. One by one, the explorers dissolve into the whiteness, their voices meld together into one unified form.