The Handmaid’s Tale

This is a juicy new opera in ENO’s spring line-up: Poul Ruders’s adapts Margaret Atwood’s landmark dystopia about a future United States that has become the Republic of Gilead, a misogynist, totalitarian theocracy. It follows the adventure of Offred, a ‘handmaid’ whose assigned role is to give birth to children of the male elite. Ruders’s score is influenced by minimalism, medieval chanting and gospel music, and comes with a libretto by Paul Bentley. Annilese Miskimmon directs a cast that includes mezzo-soprano Kate Lindsey as Offred.