The Lighthouse Keepers

The Lighthouse Keepers - David Sawer

The Lighthouse Keepers

“It was always David Sawer’s intention that Rumpelstiltskin should eventually become the second half of a double-bill, with another new work, The Lighthouse Keepers, based on a 1905 French play, as a shorter first half. This is a claustrophobic tale of father and son lighthouse-keepers; the son reveals he has been bitten by a dog and is rabid, and begs his father to kill him, just as the light goes out and a ship approaches the rocks…. I am delighted that Cheltenham Music Festival is joining BCMG to co-commission this smaller-scale work, for 2 actors and an ensemble of 9 musicians, which David describes as having the look of an ‘on-stage radio play’. We will premiere this work in Cheltenham alongside Morton Feldman/Samuel Beckett’s radio play Words and Music (which BCMG first toured in 2002) – eventually reviving it for the full double bill with Rumpelstiltskin in 2014/15.”

Stephen Newbould, BCMG Artistic Director

First performed by BCMG conducted by Martyn Brabbins at Parabola Arts Centre, Cheltenham Festival on Thursday 4 July 2013.