EVENING STANDARD
17 August 2001

Opera in the style of Oprah

Like his controversial brother Chris, Tom Morris pushes against tradition. Rachel Halliburton met Battersea Arts Centre's artistic director.

Mention the name Jerry Springer, and you will experience a variety of reactions, whether it is the contemptuous smile, the brick hurled TV-wards, some predictable comment about everyone wanting their Warholian slice of fame, or an animated discussion about that girl who left her boyfriend because she was only attracted to men eating spaghetti in orange underwear. A response you might not expect is: "Why not use the show as a basis for an opera?"

A season coming up at London's eternally inventive Battersea Arts Centre aims to subvert the prejudices and snobberies surrounding the setting of emotions to music, proving that Oprah-style can be opera as well.

Tom Morris, artistic director of the BAC, has been programming an entertainingly experimental opera season for the past six years now, and declares that Kombat Opera's choice of Jerry Springer is "perfect subject matter for opera. It's like Tosca - one emotional climax after another".