Irish National Opera presents two searing one-act operas, Trade and Mary Motorhead, adapted by Irish composer Emma O’Halloran from Mark O’Halloran’s plays. The operas will go on a nationwide tour in Autumn from Friday 11 to Saturday 26 October in Dún Laoghaire, Cork, Tralee, Ennis, and Navan.

Both operas delve into the complexities of modern life, featuring characters in unexpected situations, reacting to the twists and turns that life has thrown at them. Mark O’Halloran’s texts cut straight to the raw emotional core of each character. Emma O’Halloran’s score combines beauty and drama in the vocal lines with echoes of 80’s gritty electronic music layered over the orchestral accompaniment, creating a new and unique soundscape.

In the monodrama Mary Motorhead, mezzo-soprano Naomi Louisa O’Connell sings the title role. In prison after stabbing her husband in the head, Mary Motorhead reflects on the events that brought their turbulent rural marriage to such a crisis, while he lies in intensive care.

Set in a guesthouse in Dublin’s north inner city, Trade opens with a vulnerable young rent boy sung by tenor Oisín Ó Dálaigh sitting with a middle-aged client performed by bass John Molloy. The older man has blood on his shirt. A lot has happened since the two last met.

Trade / Mary Motorhead are sung in English with English surtitles. A co-production with Beth Morrison Projects.

For further details and tickets, visit irishnationalopera.ie.