Name: Watershed: The Death of Dr Duncan
Start: 2024-06-14
End: 2024-06-14
Location: Sydney Opera House

Organization

Admin

Adelaide Festival

Opera Australia

Conductor

Brett Weymark

Stage director

Neil Armfield

Set designer

Ailsa Paterson

Costume designer

Lighting designer

Nigel Levings

Sound designer

Jane Rossetto

Video designer

Sean Bacon

Singer

Tenor

Mark Oates

Duncan/Dustan

Bass

Pelham Andrews

Mick o’shea/Cop/Lawyer

Orchestra

Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra

Others

Opera Australia Chorus

English

Watershed: The Death of Dr Duncan -  (Watershed)

Sydney City

Australia

Sydney Opera House

Joan Sutherland Theatre

Watershed Twist

Public

Watershed

Sagar Haldar

Approved

As his body hit the water, few heard the impact. But the ripple effect of the murderous act defied natural law and swelled to seismic scale.It’s half a centu...

The moment and the movement that changed Australia.
As his body hit the water, few heard the impact. But the ripple effect of the murderous act defied natural law and swelled to seismic scale.

It’s half a century since the infamous drowning of Dr George Ian Ogilvie Duncan; a moment in time that triggered an alleged police cover-up, a city-wide scandal, national outrage, a Scotland Yard investigation… and a glaring absence of convictions.

Most importantly, Dr Duncan’s death led South Australia to decriminalise homosexuality, ahead of the rest of the country.

Watershed, a ravishing new operatic work and the hit of the 2022 Adelaide Festival, is a collaboration between some of Australia’s most acclaimed creative talents.

Helpmann Award-winning playwright Alana Valentine and author Christos Tsiolkas (The Slap) have created a searing, no-punches-pulled libretto. Brisbane composer Joe Twist’s score is luscious and ultimately transcendent. And Australian theatre and opera legend Neil Armfield’s production is as deeply felt as it is thrillingly physical.

Written as an oratorio, Watershed turns the illicit into the sacred, through powerful choral music, solo voices and dance. It fuses inquest transcripts, press clippings, private correspondence and monologues spanning five decades of anti-gay violence, and pays tribute to the unassuming academic whose untimely death lit a fuse.

See for yourself why Watershed was met with five-star reviews, a sold-out premiere season, and rapturous, teary standing ovations at every performance.

Watershed by Twist, Joseph, Fri 14 Jun 2024, From (2024/2024), Directed by Neil Armfield,, Conductor Brett Weymark, Sydney Opera House, Sydney City, Australia

Performance credits (Cast & Crew )

Cast

Crew

Ensemble

Program, About & Synopsis

Videos

Photos

Further reading

Performance Dates & Venues

Venues