Burmese Days

Prach Boondiskulchok and Sarah Howe are adapting George Orwell’s Burmese Days into an 80-minute chamber opera, directed by Aïda Gabriels. Developed in dialogue with Willem Bruls, the work aims for a de-orientalized retelling that expands Southeast Asian agency and female roles—notably May, combining Orwell’s Ma Hla May with historical singer Ma Mya Yin.

Set in a 1920s colonial Burma club fractured by a London mandate to admit a local member, Orwell’s cast is distilled into seven roles for five singers. The musical score combines a Western chamber ensemble (strings, winds, accordion, percussion) with 2–3 traditional Southeast Asian instrumentalists playing the pattala/ranat, h’ne/pi nai, and pat waing/tapon.

This production is supported by the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation.

Further information:
transparant.be

Dates

June 9, 2027
La Monnaie, Brussels

June 19, 2027
Barbican Centre, London

May 23, 2028
Nationaltheater Mannheim

May 25, 2028
O. Festival, Rotterdam