prompted by appetite
episode 2
Tales from a Safe Distance, 2020
Pressure and proximity through an anxious summer… all that pent up energy is ready to explode. Eros and intimacy blossom behind the locked doors of a lockdown.
The revellers of “The Happy Hour” continue their tales with Nathan’s sexy romp “Dinner 4 3” in which a frustrated married couple cook up a feat of sensual deception. Next it’s on to Kat’s tale of heartbreak and heat in “The Roost”, in which familiarity breeds contempt between husband and wife. With an egg in the nest and a mother-in-law pecking away, can the night still sizzle before the cock crows?
The Happy Hour (Interstitials)
by Peter Hilliard and Matt Boresi
Commissioned by the Decameron Opera Coalition
dinner 4 3
by Michael Ching and Deborah Brevoort
Inspired by The Decameron Day 5, Story 10
Commissioned by Fargo-Moorhead Opera - Fargo, North Dakota
A wealthy businessman and his trophy wife are unfulfilled in their marriage. They both search internet dating sites for extra-marital partners and, upon finding suitable matches, make dates to meet. But their romantic liaisons don’t go as planned; in the end, both the husband and wife are caught cheating. The underlying problem in their marriage is revealed, leading them to an understanding.
the roost
by Marc Migó and John de los Santos
Inspired by The Decameron Day 5, Story 4 (Filostrato’s Tale)
Commissioned by UrbanArias - Washington, D.C.
Expecting your first baby while quarantined in your overbearing mother’s house with a broken air conditioner during a global pandemic is another story altogether. With hormones at their peak, Kat and Ricky face these challenges with honesty and tenderness in this operatic comedy inspired by one of The Decameron’s sexiest tales.