Lyssi - the opera

Christopher Neame explains how his passion for musical theatre took him from Avignon to Sarajevo 

The members of the orchestra took up their positions and began tuning their instruments. It was a strangely relaxing moment after so much activity and gave me time to reflect over the past 18 months and what had brought us here for this event. ‘Here’ was an open-air concert venue in the lovely old Turkish Quarter of Sarajevo. The ‘event’ (held on 1 July 2008) was part of the celebrations surrounding the French assumption of the EU Presidency.

Oddly, I felt extremely grateful to the tedious television executives in the UK and elsewhere and their ubiquitous script editors because had I not fled their committee-led world I’d never have taken the plunge into far deeper waters. Musical theatre had fascinated me since childhood and a few years back I decided to ‘go for it’. At least the aforementioned characters couldn’t wilfully meddle with lyrics or the ‘book’ as they are largely locked-off by the music.

My first venture, thankfully well received, was performed on a mini-tour in the southeast of England. The only problem was the cost of the piece – a full orchestra in the pit, six principals, a dozen small parts and an ensemble of forty, plus a gunfight at the end – O.K. Corral stuff. But the outcome was that I was bitten by the bug. My next outing was designed to be a smaller affair – a cast of eight with five musicians.

Saucy

Lyssi is a reworking of Aristophanes’s Lysistrata, which, although still set during the time of the Peloponnesian wars, is somewhat anachronistic – and it’s as saucy as it should be. For many years this play had been on my back burner and resurfaced, for some unknown reason, when my wife and I moved permanently to live in France. This presented an intriguing idea – why not write the lyrics in both English and French so the show could be understood by both audiences simultaneously? Anthony Garner, a friend and colleague, came on a visit to Provence and I put it to him that we might work together on the project. He was keen so long as we could find the right key to develop something fresh.

As a director he is very strong on the construction front and living up to an audience’s expectations whereas my side is characterisation and lyrics. Ahead lay many arguments, forcefully defended by both corners. So it should be – had we agreed about everything, what would have been the point of collaboration? (Happily we are still friends!)

Having given ourselves the extra task of creating something bilingual, we had to find a way of getting the message across without simply repeating words in a different language. All writers recognise how a well-drawn character can take on a life of their own and soon ‘Victoire’ came to our rescue. This street cred girl instantly captures the audience and engages it in both English and French, while always putting the narrative over in different ways.

The strict rule we made for ourselves was that anyone who understands both tongues should benefit on a sort of third level. Using our cinematic backgrounds, Anthony and I also devised various sequences in musical mime. Essentially the work is concerned with Peace, but the inherent comedic situation of women refusing to have sex until their men cease warring lends itself to such storytelling methods. Incidentally, our title is spelt as it is so the pronunciation is the same in both countries.

Anthony Garner (left) and Christopher Neame outside the Sarajevo Opera House

Finding a composer

With lyrics as yet unwritten, our next major task was to find a composer. An often asked question is which comes first – the music or the lyrics? W.S. Gilbert insisted it was the lyrics. Tim Rice seems to favour the music first. A rough guide for me is that it’s lyrics when it comes to narrative and music for the invariably required stand-alone songs. We lucked out with Eric Breton, a prolific composer based in Avignon. His work is eclectic – amongst many other compositions is a symphony written to welcome Pope John Paul II to Avignon; a presentation for Bill Clinton and a commission from Yehudi Menuhin. Together Eric, Anthony and I explored ways to advance the story through jazz, aria, rock, the blues and even the bossa nova. 

We recorded a CD at a studio near Avignon. Several talented musicians and soloists were involved, including the classical opera singer Lisa Tyrrell in the eponymous role. So now what? This was when ‘the out of the frying pan of film and into the fire of musical theatre’ really kicked in

Comments from potential funders like: "Loved the music"; "The script is great"; "Very funny and poignant at the same time"; "You should have a success with this" were countered with: "Actually we don’t have funds available"; "We are trying to develop relationships with others organisations". Thankfully no-one said anything about the money they had just spent on doing up their offices or mentioned the bonuses they might have awarded themselves.

Then suddenly there was a chink of light. Eric had worked several times with the internationally respected Sarajevo Philharmonic Orchestra and he was invited to present a new French work for the 1 July celebrations. Well, I suppose Lyssi is partly French. Their embassy in Sarajevo agreed to finance the concert, in partnership with various sponsors, for the coincidental opening of the annual festival Baščaršijske noći.

Changes

Without a lot of time in hand, changes were needed for a concert version – three new songs to replace the mime sequences; dialogue sections shortened for recitative and Eric’s truly massive task of orchestrating for the now 60 musicians and chorus of twelve. Casting sessions in Paris; rehearsals in Avignon and Bosnia. Plus somewhat complicated travel arrangements to make – the usual things!

Then my short moment of relaxing reflection was over. The soloists stepped up onto the stage and shortly Eric, now in the conductor’s role was there before them.

Lyssi begins slowly and gently yet quickly builds to a climax before the first song which draws the audience back into the dreadful reality of war and inevitable death, and the losses of loved ones. Of course, as is normal, there are laughs en route, yet fundamentally we were among an audience that has known devastation and bloodshed all too recently and, like the characters in Lyssi, continues to yearn for long-lasting peace.

Sarajevo is a Peace Messenger City, so what better place to launch our show? Now there is talk of other concert performances – perhaps other Peace Messenger Cities.

For more details go to lyssi.com

This article first appeared in the Guild's magazine UK Writer (Autumn 2008)