"Opera is a form that if not done well, can be spectacularly horrible..."
Photo:
Stephanie Marshall (centre) as Offred in English
National Opera's production of "The Handmaid's Tale." Photo credits: Neil
Libert
It was considered a far-fetched idea at the time, but 20 years later, people are asking Margaret Atwood: How did you know? Her eerily prescient novel The Handmaid's Tale foretold of rightwing religious ideology overtaking the White House, the erosion of constitutional rights in the name of national security and of widespread environmental disasters. Of course, unlike the novel, women today aren't enslaved to procreate for the elite, but when it comes to public paranoia, the book Atwood refers to as "speculative fiction" practically reads as a commentary on the times. "The moment in which it was set, 20 years ago, is right about now," Atwood says, revealing that the futuristic society of The Handmaid's Tale was actually written with the early-2000s in mind. "Well, everybody's saying to me, 'How did you know?'" "I say, you can't really predict the future, but you can make educated guesses." She began writing her dystopia in 1984 -- itself a year laden with George Orwell's predictions of Big Brother and frenzied displays of rage and hate -- and her rule for the book was to put nothing in it that hadn't already happened somewhere at some time. The dire cloaks worn by the female characters, for instance, were partly derived from a chador she picked up during a visit to Afghanistan. "So, change of venue, but same stuff. It's always a mistake to say, 'It can't happen here,' " she says. "Today it (the Handmaid's Tale) would be a news report, because variations of it are here." Her dark vision of a religious dictatorship in which fertile women -- known as handmaids -- are forced to bear the offspring of the elite has been translated into dozens of languages, made into a film, put on North American and European curriculums and is now an acclaimed opera. Adapted by Danish composer Poul Ruders, The Handmaid's Tale makes its Canadian premiere Thursday, with a six-night run in Toronto. The Canadian Opera Company's production features simulated sex scenes, film clips of the Statue of Liberty blowing up and surtitles above all the action. "It's extremely powerful," Atwood says. "When you come out of the theatre with your legs feeling wobbly, then that's powerful. "I t got her "weepy" during its 2000 debut in Denmark, before going on to runs in London and Minneapolis -- a rare feat in the world of modern opera. Atwood knows that it could have just as easily gone very wrong. When Rudor first suggested the adaptation, she thought of the worst-case scenario. "Opera is a form that if not done well, can be spectacularly horrible," she says. "My immediate thoughts were it could either be awful or it could be terrific and if it's really awful it won't get staged." Another experience with adaptation was less than terrific. The film version of the Handmaid's Tale -- based on a screenplay by Harold Pinter and starring Natasha Richardson -- failed to capture the inner life of protagonist Offred.
"They couldn't have the character thinking because in film it's very hard to do. . . . And they in fact didn't do it," she says. "It's easier in opera to depict the inner life of someone," she notes. "Characters can sing their thoughts. . .and you can have for instance, two different versions of the same character on stage at once, which is what happens in this opera, and they can sing a duet." Coincidentally, Atwood says she is currently reading 18th century writing on opera, back when it was the big pop forum and the goal was to make them extravagant and weird. In one production, they released sparrows into the audience to chirp and twitter along with the orchestra. "But the sparrows couldn't be caught again so they kept flying in and out of inappropriate operas, and also they kept pooping on people," she laughs. "Those were the days! Why can't we do that?" Atwood is quick to declare, however, that no animals are involved -- or harmed -- in staging the Handmaid's Tale. The humans, however, are another story. "There is a revolving set and in Denmark they did have a bit of trouble rehearsing because people kept getting dizzy and falling off. I think they're pretty well-rehearsed by now." Aside from the opera, Atwood has two other projects on the go. A collection of her non-fiction, Moving Targets, will be launched next Monday at a gala fundraiser in Toronto for World Literacy as part of its 50th anniversary celebrations. And she is preparing to release her another alliterative children's book, a follow-up to her tongue-twister Princess Prunella and the Purple Peanut. This time around, Bashful Bob and Doleful Dorinda tackles two letters often confused by small children, she says. "Bashful Bob is abandoned as a baby beside a beauty parlour and is adopted by a boxer, a beagle and a barsoi," Atwood explains. "Then he meets doleful Dorinda whose parents have disappeared in a dreadful disaster and she's been dumped on distant relatives who make her doze in a dumpbin on a damp duvet and drudge in a dive where people drink daiquiris." Cassandra Sklarski-