|
The Opera by You -team is looking for your ideas and comments. Join and show your support for Opera by You. Banker's love by Timo-Heikki MäkeläAn ambitious Banker booms forward and gets to the very top by using every chance opening to him. He dazzles with achievement, creates ingenious inventions, makes friends and makes love with everyone, until desides to change the rules "for the better" and turns them down to get forward - in his own opinion always for the best for everyone, as it initially also seems. The Banker gets to rule the world. But only by making more promises, "selling more" of himself and borrowing for what he finally realises is impossible to get. He's lethally in love with money, power and greed, but there's no way to turn back. The only way is to continue even further, even deeper towards the inevidently closing certain catastrophe. Being an ingenious cheater even able to cheat himself, however, the Banker manages to ensure everyone around himself time after time, that everything will just get better by following his advice and by pushing ever further, stronger and faster. And amazingly he does manage to rise from plain catastrophes again and again, and viewers really cannot tell in advance, when it'll actually be the obvious and inevitable end of story. Until it actually is, and everything lies in ruins and the Banker in shame. As a specialty, the very end of this story could each and every time change a bit, so the spectators could never really know when and how the story ends. At the end, the Banker could save the world numerous times again and again in an intensifying atmosphere, but the number of saves could change each time and include different ideas. It could even be improvised to a degree to hide the actual end to the very last second. And there could even be options for a surprising happy end prepared, so no one really could tell in advance. |
Jump to comment form
Comments
Earlier comments:
Iida Hämeen-Anttila:
Dear Timo-Heikki, Timo, Tatu and Laura-Maija, all four of you have written a story including a greedy banker in a turning point of his life where he has to face the consequences of his choices, a very current topic. As your dramaturg I have a suggestion for you: how about teaming up and trying to combine these stories? I could create a group for you if you'd like to try and work as a team.
Iida
"GroundingStick" Carl L.:
As I suggested in the more focused version of a Banker-Opera by Timo Airisto, Chumbawumba can be a good inspiration.
Check out this album:
(1-4) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8is7ywWoik
(2-4) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FuEWuK6QOo
(3-4) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqhzVDHSf_s
(4-4) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8X62h8Wf5mY
"GroundingStick" Carl L.:
Useful Propaganda:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1656880303867390173#
(Aaron Russo's From Freedom To Fascism)
Seppo Hiltunen:
Now that collapse of WTC at 2001 is one phenomenon that makes the Banker's story very operatic. Thumb up.
Timo-Heikki Mäkelä:
One of the demises the Banker(s) face could be the collapse of WTC (911). Having raised bitter enemies, these attack the Banker's core possessions, which raises the 'bets' considerably and forces him/them to lose their temper and go to fullout war.
The collapse of WTC might be a nice challenge for the organisers to organise a huge, truly opera-scale scene on stage...
Timo-Heikki Mäkelä:
On Seppo: I'd say my idea rather considers the madness of the spirit of the humankind (society) as a whole than the madness of any single person. The point may even be, that each person may act utmost rationally each, but their acts put together becomes plain madness.
Seppo Hiltunen
The way the money is not anymore a direct measurement for values of products and services but a thing to be traded itself and to build insane "instruments" fot the expectations of the fure values - in one word, play of greed.
I like Timo Heikki's idea. It goes deep into human soul, both on light and dark sides.
Timo-Heikki Mäkelä:
Tatu, although similar, our ideas consider different cases. Your idea sounds more focused on a single economic catastrophe, which could occur in a somewhat mystic environment, and results in global effects. I see your idea considering more personal greed than mine, too. Mine is considering events at a global level altogether. (Well, the largest US banks, the FED, US Treasury and the White House do in fact form the very top of world economics and politics.) So, I'd keep the ideas separate.
I do like the part in your idea, that it can more obviously include mystics. My idea's strength is perhaps the possibility to capture a more general insanity of the current world and its organisation, economical systems and politics. But I wouldn't mix them.
Tatu Siltanen:
I too wrote a story about a banker. It's called "Iceland".
I think I had some pretty good ideas (the setting, a structure, an ending) but I'm missing some of the meat or a good story. I think it would be possible to combine your idea with mine. Your idea could become the main story inside my sketch. What do you think?
Timo-Heikki Mäkelä
Inspired by the history, of course. I wouldn't stick too much to the reality though. The story could reflect the real events to some degree, but the main characters would be mixing several real-life characters and their roles, as the script would certainly become too fuzzy there would be too many characters on stage, if the roles of each character would be followed exactly.
Obviously the choir could play "general public" and "markets". There should be a couple of other similar top figures, some of them representing politicians and others regulators and competitors. I'd say "frenemies" should play a vital role, female frenemies also having roles of lovers to the Banker. There might also be not just one Banker in main role but several, and their roles changing places.
"GroundingStick" Carl L.:
There could be a couple of ruthless and semi-ruthless bankers competing.
Throughout the play they would be plotting against each other, teaming up, and then turning on each other.
In some endings they would rule the world together in peace. Sometimes they would duke it out in global war leaving it in stone-age shambles.
And sometimes the subjects (people) win, forming a peaceful, low/high-tech, or warmongering, fascist, etc... world.
I'd say the golden number is 5.
"GroundingStick" Carl L.:
Inspired by history? I like this story. We may be able to learn alot here.