Acclaimed theatre and opera director Conor Hanratty introduces his production of Terrence McNally's play Master Class, starring Caitríona Ní Mhurchú as legendary opera diva Maria Callas and receiving its Irish premiere at Dublin's Smock Alley Theatre this May.
I don't really know when I first heard of Maria Callas, but I feel like I’ve always known about her, this towering presence in operatic music. The earliest concrete memory I have is of a memorable moment in the 1993 Tom Hanks film Philadelphia. Ironically, the scene features an American Callas fan explaining and interpreting Callas’ artistry - just as Terrence McNally’s play Master Class would do a couple of years later in 1996.
I bought a copy of the play from Waterstones on Dawson Street while I was studying Drama at Trinity. I remember enjoying it thoroughly, for the barbed and mercilessly funny way that Callas provokes and challenges her students. It makes me laugh now that the idea of directing opera never crossed my mind as even a possibility back then. It wasn’t until I was getting an MFA from UCLA (just like one of the students in the play) that some very great teachers and fellow students introduced me to the possibility of working in opera, and I found I rather enjoyed it.
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Listen: The Master Class team in conversation on RTÉ Arena
A few years later I was a young artist for two summers at the Glimmerglass Festival, at Cooperstown in New York, and I got to participate in my first ever real operatic masterclass. Believe me when I tell you that Maria Callas in this play is a saint in comparison with some of the "notes" my singing colleagues were given, by some of the most famous names in the business. Master Class certainly has a few sharp shocks in it for the young singers learning from Callas, but nothing she says is unhelpful - or untrue, for that matter. Her focus is on discipline, on truth, on passion - and she is relentless in her pursuit of these goals.
I have wanted to direct Master Class pretty much since I read it. A quarter of a century later, I know a good deal more than I did back then, and what really moves me about the play is McNally’s extraordinary way of blending music and text, creating a love letter to Maria Callas and to the art form she herself loved. What with this year being Callas’ centenary, it feels like a perfect time to stage it.
Smock Alley is the perfect venue for this play, since its intimate playing space ensures that every audience can experience Callas up close and personal. With this play, in this venue, and with a cast of wonderful performers, I am very excited for audiences to get to see the play.
Callas gives a beautiful set of closing remarks at the end of the play, and while I won’t spoil this, I must quote the line that moves me most, especially in these earnest, hopeful months of post-pandemic creativity. "The older I get, the less I know… but I am certain that what we do matters." I couldn’t agree more.
Master Class is at Smock Alley, Dublin from May 11th - 27th - find out more here.
