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Re:Sound present the second of two gripping pieces of contemporary music theatre by Tim Benjamin featuring striking female protagonists…

How long after your husband dies… is it OK to love again?

Mrs Lazarus is a musical and theatrical setting of the powerful and evocative poem by the poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy. The poem deals with the difficult, almost taboo subject of when, or even if, a woman is free to love again after the death of her husband. After obeying all of society’s rituals and unwritten rules, the protagonist finally feels able to move on – but just as she does, like Lazarus rising from the dead in grim fashion, her husband comes roaring back to haunt her, together with the mocking opprobrium of society. Duffy poses the question of whether woman is ever allowed to love again, or whether she is forever thus a “Mrs Lazarus”.

Performed by singers Rebecca Lea, Matthew Kellett and Jonathan Ainscough, with design by Katherine Wilde and featuring an instrumental ensemble of outstanding young professionals, these new works present the stories of women confronted by – and confronting – society, and seeking freedom on their own terms.