Long before Hulu got its hands on Margaret Atwood's 1985 novel and turned it into an Emmy and Golden Globe-winning hit TV series, The Handmaid’s Tale was an opera. It makes a lot of sense – the dystopian tale is operatic in scale and those creepy bonnets probably make for excellent resonating chambers for singers.
The opera has a score by Danish composer Poul Ruder and premiered in Denmark in 2000. It was then performed in London by the English National Opera in 2003. It features an English libretto by Paul Bentley and music written in an “open tonal” style (which means it doesn’t have the most hummable of scores).
The premiere Australian performance will be a headlining event in the inaugural Yarra Valley Opera Festival, which features concerts and performances across ten days. The Handmaid’s Tale will be directed by Linda Thompson, the artistic director of Gertrude Opera, the independent company behind the festival.