Veritable Michael is an operatic telling of the true story of Michael Field - a brilliant, Victorian poet who was hiding a secret.
In May 1884, London awoke to the news of an exciting new playwright and poet bursting onto the scene to rave reviews. Michael Field not only won the praise of the papers, but also piqued the interest of literary giants Robert Browning and Oscar Wilde. But Michael was hiding a secret: he wasn’t a man, he wasn’t a woman — Michael Field was in fact two women, deeply in love, writing as one.
Winner of the Stephen Oliver Award for new opera, Veritable Michael is based on the true story of Katherine Bradley and Edith Cooper — two Victorian poets who lived, loved and wrote under the pseudonym, Michael Field. It combines Katherine's and Edith's journals, poetry and letters with an original score by Tom Floyd.
This opera began life as a documentary podcast which delved deeply into the life of Michael Field with interviews from outstanding researchers and exploration of how the opera came to life. The podcast is available to stream in all good podcast feeds.
Shadow Opera is thrilled to bring the live version of Veritable Michael to Katherine Bradley's hometown of Birmingham and joining the programme of the British Association of Victorian Studies' Conference for 2022!
Veritable Michael is a Shadow Opera production.
The work will be accompanied by a digitally created orchestration.