Slip Knot: A Staged Workshop of a Operatic Work in Progress

Abstract

Adapted and arranged for this production by Rachael Gates, Noel Koran and Rhoda Levine presented by the Northwestern University School of Music April 26, 2003 7:30 P.M. Sigma Alpha Epsilon, Levere Memorial Temple Northwestern University Evanston, Illinois [End Page 592] Cast Arthur, baritone a young slave Flora, mezzo-soprano his mother Godfrey, bass a slave owner and Arthur's father Edward Clark, baritone a slave owner Theodona, soprano his wife Tambo, tenor a slave and friend of Arthur Berta, soprano a slave and lover of Arthur Samuel, baritone a white man, jealous of Arthur Opechee, mezzo-soprano a young Mashpee woman, lover of Arthur Deborah Metcalfe, soprano a white woman who accuses Arthur of assaulting her Jennison, tenor a white vigilante Isaac Frasier, bass a notorious Irish thief, in prison Irish Boy, tenor also in prison The Bailiff, bass The Chief Justice, tenor The Reverend Maccarty, bass Synopsis: Arthur, a slave in Massachusetts, returns home after escaping to sea. To the horror of his mother, Flora, he is sold by Godfrey, his owner and father, to another slave owner, Mr. Clark. As his friends Berta and Tambo talk of freedom, Arthur speaks of his love for Opechee, a woman of the Mashpee. Accused of raping Deborah Metcalfe, a white woman, Arthur is imprisoned and finally confronted at his trial by the Chief Justice of the court. Although he protests that he is not guilty of rape, he is condemned to be hanged and goes to his death defiantly singing of freedom. [End Page 593] Arthur: Ship Ahoy! I sailed out of Nantucket On a sloop with Captain Coffin. I saw the devil's convoy On its way to Cape Coast Castle And old Calabar Where the salty trade winds Were the only thing we heard. Back from the West Indies Where I swigged cane-cutter's rum. Following the Ides of March. Voices of women in the night, The galley din boiled with fistfights. Ship Ahoy! Flora: I almost lost my head. I dreamt you were dead. Arthur: Momma, I was so near I could see the smoke From your chimney Drifting down to me. A fire of leaves. Flora: I thought you were dead And almost talked you out of my head. Arthur: I was on the other side of the hill With friends who saved my skin. I was with the Mashpees Among the birch trees. All their warriors are dust Among the songs of ghosts Dreaming of tomahawks Against muskets. Divided in my blood, I still saw the smoke From your chimney Drifting down to me In a fire of leaves. Godfrey: So, My property returned. Arthur: Major Godfrey— Your name is God, Mister And Master. Godfrey: Yes—My property is back. Arthur: I have been out to sea With Captain Coffin. With Captain Coffin I was almost free. Flora: Why can you not look Him in the eye, Sir? Why do you not see Each other? Arthur: Ship Ahoy! I am still on my sea legs And can hear the dark swish Of cane-cutter's rum in the wooden kegs. Halfway somewhere out there, I was no longer on earth. Captain Coffin's sloop Sailed past the Cape, And I swear I could see A pirate's ghost ship Wedged on a sandbar, And the sea was bright With split bags of gold. I was being born backwards. [End Page 594] Godfrey: You were always more trouble Than you are worth. All of your thieving And only God knows what . . . Arthur: And Momma, I have touched A woman— Many other women. Godfrey: I am going to sell you Out of the country, To the West Indies Or Carolina. Flora: You swore Never, You said Never. Godfrey: But with your son, I could never bid A day's work out of him. Flora: My son? My son...