Opera in Motion: Flora McIntosh on Reimagining Riders to the Sea

OperaUpClose’s latest production, Riders to the Sea, is currently touring the UK, offering audiences a fresh take on Vaughan William’s classic one-act opera. Directed by Flora McIntosh, Artistic Director of OperaUpClose, this new interpretation expands the original work through additional writing and multimedia elements, aiming to bring new depth to its themes of grief, memory, and survival.

A Story of Trauma, Memory, and Survival

Riders to the Sea is an intense chamber piece that explores traumatic memory, survivor’s guilt, and the ways in which a family navigates profound loss. “It’s an intense, visceral chamber piece that combines a classic work with exciting new writing—highly theatrical, musically excellent—it takes the audience on a powerful and emotional journey,” McIntosh explains.

For OperaUpClose, the decision to stage Riders to the Sea stemmed from a desire to connect with the company’s new home. “When OperaUpClose moved to Southampton, we were really keen to explore music and stories that reflected the environment and community we were now part of. Stories of and from the sea led me to Riders,” says McIntosh. “What struck me immediately was how much more than the sum of its parts this piece is—ostensibly a very specific story of a small place, it actually holds huge universal themes of love, grief, and home that speak to the core of our humanity.”

OperaUpClose’s approach includes expanding the original 40-minute opera by incorporating newly commissioned writing. “I saw this as a brilliant opportunity for reinventing and reframing a classic work through commissioning new writing that could illuminate, enhance, and expand the original material. And through this reinvention, a totally different approach to the narrative has emerged—it’s been a true process of exploration and discovery, one which I’m excited to share.”

“…highly theatrical, musically excellent—it takes the audience on a powerful and emotional journey.”

The Challenges of Creation

This production also marks McIntosh’s directorial debut for OperaUpClose, bringing a unique frisson to her approach. “Directing for OperaUpClose demands a distilling of narrative and a refocusing of characters which enables a special kind of intensity. There’s nowhere to hide—it’s a thrilling new creative muscle to flex.”

The production incorporates projections alongside live music and singing, presenting technical challenges. “The show mixes projections with live music and singing, which is quite complicated,” McIntosh says. “The key is ensuring you have brilliant people facilitating their area of expertise. I’m lucky—this production is an embarrassment of talent! Bringing those people together in a shared purpose and being clear that we are all telling the same story is what my job is really about. Each element weaves together and integrates to create a multi-media, multi-sensory theatrical world that serves the music and drama but never distracts.”

Audience Reception and Interpretation

McIntosh acknowledges that “…audiences always take something different than you imagine they might, and I embrace that.”

However, she hopes the production will challenge conventional notions of opera. “But I hope that some take away an experience that has changed their view of what opera can be and who it is for. And I hope they are given an opportunity to reflect on the great, agonising, and beautiful truth that grief is the price we pay for love, but love is always worth it.”

Susie Buckle (L) and Neil Balfour (R) in Riders to the Sea from OperaUpClose **© Rich Southgate**

Blurring the Lines Between Opera and Theatre

The production also highlights a broader movement within opera to break down barriers between traditional art forms. “We are theatre makers and storytellers using the power of music and the human voice to explore character and humanity beyond words and actions.”

She also emphasises the importance of dialogue between classic and contemporary practices on stage. “I reject the idea that theatre and opera occupy siloed creative spaces—the performers in Riders to the Sea are multi-skilled, extraordinary artists using all their exceptional training to bring audiences to the very heart of the narrative. And I guess this production also embodies my profound belief in inherited repertoire championed through new writing, and simultaneously, new writing championed through classics. The old and the new in dialogue—it’s how we move forward!”

“There’s nowhere to hide—it’s a thrilling new creative muscle to flex.”

Questions and Answers in the Making

McIntosh describes the development process as one of continual questioning and discovery. “I have spent months asking all the questions—challenging why I want to explore these themes and why anyone would go on the journey with me; why reinterpret a story so comprehensively; why opera is the perfect medium to communicate this story…I could go on.”

Some answers emerged during rehearsals. “The most important answer I found in rehearsal was a real sense that these characters really did relate to everyone. They are people we all know, they are relationships we have all had in some way or another—so, the artists were able to find something absolutely honest in their performances.”

Ultimately making the show has renewed McIntosh’s faith in the power of Opera. “Making this show has reinforced the idea that art has such an important role in allowing us to feel a thing—and travel through complex emotions in a safe space. Opera really heightens that experience and gives an emotional budget to the production that is perhaps less available in other mediums.”

Touring Riders to the Sea

The production is currently on a five-week UK tour, with stops in Southampton, Exeter, Plymouth, Chichester, London, Hull, Oxford, and Blackpool.

With this reimagining of Riders to the Sea, the company continues to challenge the boundaries of opera, merging traditional storytelling with new creative voices. For McIntosh, that process of reinvention is essential: “The old and the new in dialogue—it’s how we move forward.”

Featured Image: Lauren Young in Riders to the Sea from OperaUpClose (c) Rich Southgate