Cremenville
SharpWire
Matthew Sharp - Pete M Wyer
Words and music by Pete M Wyer
Directed by Matthew Sharp
With the help of Opera North, the Arts Council of England and Farnham Maltings, a multimedia opera, Cremenville, was created. loosely adapted from the story of Oedipus. Working with soprano, Liz Franklin-Kitchen, violinist, Dave LaPage, bassist, Perry, percussionist, Graham Instrall and singer/technician Thom Ashworth, We also collaborated once more with film-maker Tobin Rothlein . A work-in-progress showing of the work was presented at Leeds Met theatre on June 7th and 8th and at Farnham Maltings on June 9th 2006.
Cremenville:
Amy keeps seeing her dead brother, Paul. Unemployment, poverty and crime have replaced Amy's childhood mmemory of the happy thriving town of Cremenville. But, as the locals, who never quite manage to leave the bar will tell you; things are rarely what they seem in Cremenville.......
excerpts from some of the songs:
Here is Where.
Here is where the dead have died
And the dust has reached out to the sky
Where the only sound, in the unobserved town
Is Tuesday afternoon sliding by
Chorus Heave-ho, heave-ho this town will cost you your soul
Heave-ho, heave-ho this town will swallow you whole
Rags and dogs and papers dust the blowing wind
And the chill wind speaks to each man like a falling star
And the bare trees scratch an angry patch of winter sky
Like a ravid scar. Har har.
Chorus
Heave-ho, heave-ho this town will cost you your soul
Heave-ho, heave-ho this town will swallow you whole
Blood and gut and shit and bone
I sing itÕs lulling overtone
Dragged from its cloying soil for an hour
To lie beneath its dirt forever
Chorus
Heave-ho, heave-ho this town will cost you your soul
Heave-ho, heave-ho this town will swallow you whole
Dogtown
Dogtown Cremenville,
Dust is gathered, broken junk, this rust costs money
And time corrodes the sunlight to ash
Chorus
Buy a car or buy a TV Or talk about love with a gin in your hand
But in the end, youÕll understand That nothing ever changes
The shops are closed now, down in Cremenville,
Another day gone another round the corner
And the bars all fill with gin-soaked strangers
Chorus
ItÕs all a lazy old B-Movie A B-town bad dream
Where you work your days raw
To buy the things you canÕt afford
For the life you never wanted
Buy a car or buy a TV Or
talk about love with a gin in your hand
But in the end, youÕll understand That nothing ever changes
Old Cremenville
God is a ghost
Who rattles the bedposts
Down in old Cremenville
There are those that He chose
But those He outgrows
Are all wasted Down in old Cremenville
Chorus
But someday our star will rise
And the days will be long and filled with surprise
And the children will play in the streets once again
And smiling girls will kiss them goodnight
And smiling girls will sing them to sleep
Our hearts have grown cold
Our dreams have been sold
Down in old Cremenville
Love turns to shadow
And despair runs mad now
In old Cremenville
But someday our star will rise
And our days will be long and filled with surprise
And the children will play in the streets once again
And smiling girls will kiss them goodnight
And smiling girls will sing them to sleep