other two works complement its themes. Gavin Bryars's The White Lodge, using text from Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, is "sumptuous" in its musical colouring, while Rainer Wiens's The Mercy Suite with a libretto by Victoria Ward, deals with "destitution" as seen through the tortured life of a bag lady. Together, the words form the phrase "sumptuous destitution," a concept that figures prominently in The Girl With No Door on Her Mouth.
Krucker, who fashioned the libretto from various Carson writings, first came across the poet/essayist through her article The Gender of Sound. Carson is director of graduate studies in McGill's classics department and her specialty area is Ancient Greece. The article describes how the voices of women of that time were controlled by the patriarchal society and how scholars have coined the phrase "sumptuous destitution" to describe female silence. Explains Krucker: "The Ancient Greek physicians believed that the openings of both a woman's vagina and her mouth were connected. For example, a voice could telegraph the fact that a woman was menstruating, or that she had lost her virginity, and because of this vocal and sexual relationship, strict controls were put on women about when they could use their voices in society."
Bartley and Krucker were particularly fascinated by the ololyga, a piercing female outcry that represents either intense pleasure or intense pain, and which had its roots in the Goddess worship that preceded the Greek patriarchy. "Women were forbidden to perform the ololyga within city walls," explains Krucker. "This special sound was only permitted at regulated female rituals outside the city gates." Needless to say, the ololyga makes an appearance in The Girl With No Door on Her Mouth, in a sort of duet. Bartley recorded her ololyga attempts on tape, which plays as Krucker executes the real thing on stage.
The multimedia work is a three-pronged affair. Krucker's libretto is laid out in vertical panels, one for Carson's spoken or sung text, one detailing the sounds on Bartley's (continued)