Sung in English. Opera-tions last approximately 2 hours 30 minutes.

Skin Deep is a new and brilliant, up-to-the-minute, satirical operetta about society’s obsession with staying young and beautiful.

This world premiere is a meeting of major talents. Created by British composer David Sawer with the libretto written by comedy writer and broadcaster Armando Iannucci (The Thick of It, Knowing Me, Knowing You...with Alan Partridge). The production team includes award winning British director Richard Jones and Opera North’s highly acclaimed music director Richard Farnes.

Set in the clinic of cosmetic surgery genius Doktor Needlemeier, whose slogan is ‘Putting Right What Nature Got Wrong’, the plot is filled with humorous yet dark tales of extensions, exchanges and extremely motivated people chasing the elixir of youth.

The world premiere will be performed at the Leeds Grand Theatre - 16 Jaunuary 2009.

www.goskindeep.com for more about Skin Deep.

"All this is a potent brew, in every sense... Richard Farnes conducts it superbly. And there are spirited performances from Geoffrey Dalton's suitably creepy Needlemeier, Janis Kelly spouting furious cascades of coloratura as his enraged wife, Heather Shipp as his foxy mistress, Amy Freston and Andrew Tortise as young lovers and Mark Stone as Pollock" The Times

"A final word on Skin Deep - do go, if you can. It is never boring, it is often extremely funny, and Sawer's music is a delight" Charlotte Higgins - The Guardian

A collaboration between Opera North, Komische Oper, Bregenzer Festspiele and Royal Danish Opera.

Characters

Act One

An ‘aesthetic surgery’ clinic in the Swiss mountains, run by Dr Needlemeier, a world-renowned surgeon dedicated to ‘putting right what Nature got wrong’

Donna, the clinic’s receptionist, deals with a stream of telephone calls. She has a badly scarred face – the result of a skiing accident.

Robert, a young man from the local village, is engaged to Elsa, Needlemeier’s daughter. She reminds him that she will only marry him if he agrees to a few minor modifications of his looks, under the skilled scalpel of her father. Robert agrees to this, somewhat reluctantly.

Between operations, Dr Needlemeier relates tales of the famous people who have come to him for help. He is having an affair with Donna and has plans to beautify her face. Donna anticipates the imminent arrival of a new patient, the world-famous actor Luke Pollock, and goes off to prepare his reception.

Needlemeier reveals that he has been collecting off-cuts from the rich and famous and keeping them in a large vat from which he hopes to brew an elixir of youth.

Every year, on her birthday, Needlemeier gives his wife Lania another operation to make her even more beautiful. Intending to gatecrash the birthday party is Susannah Dangerfield, a reporter from Global Glamour TV. She has heard rumours of the arrival of a mystery celebrity and has breached the clinic’s security, disguising herself as a member of staff.

Robert comes round from his surgery to be greeted by Elsa. The procedures have been so successful that he promptly falls in love with his own reflection.

Act Two

Later that evening.

As guests arrive for the party, a distraught Elsa decides that, if Robert will love only an image of himself, she will have surgery done to make herself look just like him.

Needlemeier needs one more vital ingredient to complete his elixir – a single testicle from Luke Pollock. The actor’s entourage arrives at the clinic but it turns out that Pollock is already there, disguised as a villager. He is persuaded to sign a large cheque and is wheeled off to the operating theatre.

The arrival of Lania is announced, her post-op face swathed in bandages. When they are ceremoniously removed it is revealed that her face has been replaced by Donna’s, complete with gash. Donna now has Lania’s face.

Pollock emerges from his operation and is furious to discover his loss. When Lania catches sight of her reflection in a mirror, her screams start an avalanche. Needlemeier and Donna quickly drink the completed elixir and ski off together.

INTERVAL

Act Three

California, some years later.

Needlemeier has set up a new clinic, offering eternal youth to those rich enough to afford it. The Needlemeier Clinic has become a huge gated community, in which the residents have all drunk the elixir. Each one of them looks like a young Donna or a young Robert.

Susannah Dangerfield has discovered that the elixir is about to run dry and that Needlemeier needs more flesh to replenish the stocks.

Elsa (looking like Robert) learns that her mother Lania (looking like Donna) has spent the intervening years learning the skills of plastic surgery.

Needlemeier declares that he needs a female volunteer to replenish the vat. He selects a Donnalike from the crowd, keeping a perfect Donna (who is in fact the real one) for later use.

Robert has had yet more surgery and looks grotesque but is still in love with the way he looks, although he now pines for Elsa. Pollock is a broken man. Susannah sniffs a story.

Needlemeier now needs a male volunteer for the vat and must make a choice between the real Robert and two Robertalikes. Elsa, hearing her beloved’s voice, tries to save him. Lania attempts to stab Needlemeier but is disarmed.

Both Lania and the Donna kept back from earlier are now candidates for the vat. As Needlemeier pushes Donna over the edge, Lania pushes him in after her. The patients drain the elixir, leaving nothing behind but a tiny shrivelled object:  Pollock and his bollock are finally reunited. Thinking that Susannah is responsible, he proposes marriage.

Donna and Needlemeier are revealed, hideously transmogrified. Lania tells Robert and Elsa that she will not use her newly acquired surgical skills to reverse their various operations. They agree to love each other as they are.