Story

Marrying the Hangman is based on a 1978 prose-poem of the same name by Canadian writer Margaret Atwood. Ms. Atwood ends her poem with this historical note, which summarizes the story:

In eighteenth-century Quèbec the only way for someone under sentence of death to escape hanging was, for a man, to become a hangman, or for a woman, to marry one. Françoise Laurent, sentenced to hang for stealing, persuaded Jean Corolère, in the next cell, to apply for the vacant post of executioner, and also to marry her.

A single vocalist plays the parts of the innocent but cunning Françoise; the hardened, insightful 18th-century narrator; and the 20th-century narrator, who is not quite resigned to the problems women have faced through the ages.

As the story opens, we see Françoise in prison, condemned to death. Because there is currently no executioner, in the words of the 20th-century narrator "there is only a death, indefinitely postponed." Françoise, and Jean in the next cell, cannot see each other, so she sets out to seduce him by words alone. She uses her voice like a hand to touch and stroke him; she makes sweet promises to him, and him to her.

The 20th-century narrator foreshadows what this marriage of convenience could lead to, as she describes how her contemporaries have been abused and raped by men. Later, in a 'trio,' the three characters wonder when Françoise discovered that the marriage she sought had become a prison in itself, not so different from the one she left. The sweet promises Françoise and Jean made to each other return, now twisted by reality and the passage of time. Françoise keeps her promises, and is left to suffer a life of abuse. Left to our imagination, it is silent, untold, unwitnessed, perhaps no more remarkable than that suffered by generations of women before her and after.

Music

The music of Marrying the Hangman elaborates on a detail from Margaret Atwood's poem: "There is only a death, indefinitely postponed." This nonspecific postponement, this extension of time, generates much of the underlying tension in the music, where a series of ritardandos creates a state of constant anticipation. There are also moments when the ritards fade into the background, creating conflicts between psychological time and real time. Similarly, pitch material and even whole sections of the work reappear frequently, sometimes transformed and sometimes verbatim, creating connections not just between characters, but between periods of overlapping time of minutes, days, or centuries.

Much of the melodic material is derived from the Canadian folk song, The Stormy Scenes of Winter. Implicit throughout the work, the entire song is heard near the end of the opera.

Production

Marrying the Hangman may be performed as a traditional opera with the musicians separated from the set, or as a work of music theater with the instrumentalists integrated into the set and into the action.

A few examples of how the instrumentalists can be integrated into the set:

• They may form part of the prison wall, with Françoise singing from one side of the wall, and the two narrators singing from the other side.
• A see-through prison wall might be constructed (or a wall with see-through elements), with the musicians on both sides.
• Françoise might seduce the saxophonist, who as the player who most often plays the folk song might be thought to represent the otherwise unseen Jean.
• Françoise might react to at least some of the xylophone's high Bs (whether played by the percussionist or one of the other instrumentalists). As these notes are in a constant ritard, they certainly represent the passing of time; they might also be the sounds of water dripping in a damp prison cell, or reminders of prison.
• A few of the players might sit at a table with the 20th-century narrator as she talks with her friends.

As in Atwood's poem, the names and precise social position of the two narrators have been purposefully omitted. In this way, they may remain nameless omnipotent commentators, or they may be developed into fully realized characters. In Ben Twist's premiere production, the 18th-century narrator was made into the prison jailer, but she might also be a crusty bar maid, or a beggar. The 20th-century narrator could be contemporary, or a 1970s feminist, or a woman from much earlier in the century.