Samantha Crawford Productions launches with opera on modern slavery.

Samantha is currently producing a new opera; Slave, on modern day slavery with director Keith Warner and librettist Rhidian Brook. Samantha will also perform a principal role in the opera.

Slave is being commissioned by Samantha Crawford Productions and premiered as a co-production with Polish National Opera in 2029.

The Vision:

To create a brand-new opera, Slave, that tells the story three women’s lives affected by trafficking and exploitation, those who facilitate this horror, the fight for justice, and the hope of rescue from their oppressors. Through this opera our desire is to contributeto change, create conversation, and inform people about modern slavery.

More details to be announced soon.

The Story:

Slave is a gripping, new grand opera that tells the story of Calaso, a young woman trafficked and enslaved by a criminal network that operates a chain of sex hotels in London. The Hotels are run by the fearsome Mother, her henchman, Daddy and Liam, and recruiter, Dana.

For months, the gang is being watched by detective Lt. Christophe who is trying to set up a sting operation to liberate the enslaved workers and arrest the criminals. When the body of a young girl, Pearl, is found, the trail leads to The Hotel and the dark heart of the criminal enterprise behind it.

Slave uses the pace and tension of a thriller to shed light on the world of human sex trafficking, weaving themes of desire, greed, lust and injustice, and showing that exploitation sometimes lies in plain sight and that even those who fight for justice have to face their own ‘enslavement’ in order to bring light and liberation of others.

The Team: 

 

Samantha Crawford
Soprano | Producer

Biography here

 

Rhidian Brook
Writer | Librettist

Rhidian is an award-winning writer. His first novel The Testimony of Taliesin Jones (1996) won several prizes including the Somerset Maugham Award and was adapted for a film starring Jonathan Pryce. His third novel, The Aftermath (2013) was an international bestseller and translated into 25 languages; the film adaption starred Keira Knightley. He wrote the BBC drama, Mr Harvey Lights A Candle, starring Timothy Spall; was a writer on Silent Witness; and wrote the original screenplay of the Pathe film Africa United. He has adapted his most recent novel – The Killing of Butterfly Joe (2018) – for film. He has been a regular contributor to BBC Radio 4’s Thought For The Day for 25 years. A collection of his Thoughts, entitled Godbothering, was published in March 2020. His latest book – Notes on an Execution – retells the story of the last days of Jesus. He is currently writing a novel inspired by the year he spent living in Jerusalem.

www.rhidianbrook.com

 

Keith Warner
Director

Keith is one of the most important directors of our time. He has directed around 200 operas, plays and musicals. He is particularly known for his flamboyant productions of the operas of Richard Wagner. He writes, and has translated sung versions of operas, designed several of his own productions, and teaches and lectures widely on acting and other theatre studies.

In the last couple of years he has staged at opera houses in Berlin, Vienna, London, Copenhagen, Brussels, Frankfurt, Dresden, Hamburg, Warsaw, Strasbourg, Tokyo, San Francisco, Karlsruhe among others. His work also led him to major festivals as Bayreuth, Savonlinna, Glyndebourne and Bregenz. Keith is closely connected to the Oper Frankfurt where he has staged Britten’s Death in Venice, Rossini’s La cenerentola, Dallapiccola’s Volo di notte/Il prigioniero, Reimann’s Lear, Ade’s Tempest, Ildebrando Pizzetti’s Murder in the Cathedral, Verdi’s Falstaff and Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel. He also works closely with the Theater an der Wien, where he staged Bloch’s Macbeth, Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Janácek’s Katja Kabanová, Donizetti’s Lucrezia Borgia, Hindemith’s Mathis der Maler and most recently Weill’s Dreigroschenoper and the world premiere of Christian Jost’s Egmont. He celebrated several successes at the Royal Opera House. Among many other productions such as Rossi’s Orfeo and Verdi’s Otello, his staging of Berg’s Wozzeck at the Royal Opera House London was highly celebrated and was awarded the Olivier Award as ‘best opera production 2003.’

https://www.arsis-artists.com/artists/keith-warner

 

Helen Searle
Partner | Legal

Helen Searle, a leading intellectual property lawyer and business advisor specialising in the entertainment industry, with a particular focus on the music, film and TV industries.   

Her client base is global and includes artists, song writers, producers, independent record labels, publishers, managers, booking agents and film and TV production companies. She has been instrumental in forging and guiding the careers of many superstars and has a particularly strong reputation for representing recording artists, from established household names to emerging talent, providing advice on recording and publishing deals, branding, sponsorship, worldwide tours and films. Helen has an incredibly wide range of contacts within the entertainment industry.  

Helen is also frequently engaged to broker settlements in industry disputes.   

She is a non-executive director of two established charities Friends of Sussex Hospice and CM. Helen also works closely with Baroness Lawrence and The Stephen Lawrence Foundation. 

Helen regularly writes and lectures on music industry related matters. She also keeps bees, chickens and sheep and teaches yoga. 

With Thanks

Samantha Crawford Productions is grateful for advice and support from Tim Nelson, CEO at Hope for Justice, Andrew Wallis, CEO at Unseen, and team members at Justice and Care. We are also grateful to Jonathan Knowles for the creation of the Slave video and photograph image.