PERSONA—composition by Keeril Makan, libretto and direction by Jay Scheib—is a 90-minute opera based on Ingmar Bergman’s classic psychological investigation of identity, doubling, and mutation. A famous actress, in the middle of a performance of Elektra, suddenly stops speaking. A caregiver is hired and begins to talk for both of them, explicating her plans and fears and deepest erotic desires. But what is one human voice against an overwhelming performance of silence?
In this L.A. Opera “Off Grand” production at REDCAT, Lacey Dorn plays Elisabet (the actress), and Amanda Crider her caregiver Alma.
PERSONA, Thursday through Saturday, November 9 through 11, at 8 pm. Sunday, November 12, at 2 pm.
REDCAT, Disney Hall, Music Center, downtown Los Angeles.
From top:
Amanda Crider (above) and Lacey Dorn in Persona; Keeril Makan; Jay Scheib; Dorn (left) and Crider.
Photographs of Crider and Dorn are by Noah Stern Weber/Beth Morrison Projects. Image credit: L.A. Opera.
