Eight Songs for a Mad King

Peter Maxwell Davies' iconic musical theater "Eight Songs for a Mad King" from 1968 addresses the relationship between madness and power. The work centers on the psychic disintegration of the British monarch George III and the simultaneous moral disintegration of the colonial power. Elaine Mitchener's production is inspired by the relationship of earlier black performers to the play, including Julius Eastman and William Pearson. On November 25, Mitchener will present the play in a new interpretation with choreography by Dam Van Huynh at Radialsystem. Preceding the piece are two works, "Joy Boy" by Julius Eastman and "Owner's Manual" by Elaine Mitchener.

In her own musical theater creations, Elaine Mitchener exposes psychological and historical wounds. As only the second female singer, after Iranian-American mezzo-soprano Haleh Abghari, her interpretation of "Eight Songs for a Mad King" can also be read as a meta-narrative about the culture industry and its perpetuation of postcolonial violence. In particular, in relation to the absence of non-white, female bodies and voices and their non-representation within a European canon of classical and contemporary music.