Setting: London, 20th Century. England was experiencing social turmoil and anarchy. This groundswell of unrest and discontent had done little but embarrass the government. No tangible change in the social order was taking place, which fact had served to impel those involved in attempts at disrupting the status quo to further their efforts.
Adolf Verloc has been summoned to meet the successor to his former employer at the embassy, Mr. Vladimir. As he waits in the hall, he muses about the turn his life has taken and sings an aria. He is finally asked to enter Mr. Vladimir’s office and is greeted by the emissary in a rude and hostile manner. Mr. Vladimir accuses Verloc of doing nothing of value in a long time and presents him with an ultimatum. His assignment is to place an explosive device next to the Greenwich Observatory building, not to kill anyone but to alert the public that their government is vulnerable and ineffective. Verloc reluctantly agrees and leaves singing the aria.
A meeting of the members of the anarchist group to which Verloc belongs. Karl Yundt, Anna Mikhailis, and Alexander Ossipon all express their variant views of society’s problems with little agreement between them. All the while, Stevie, Verloc’s young brother-in-law, who is developmentally impaired, has been sitting in the room drawing. Verloc breaks away from the discussion to encourage the boy, but Ossipon berates the drawings. Another argument ensues, and Stevie becomes increasingly disturbed, finally running offstage, screaming. Winnie, Verloc’s wife, enters and scolds him for allowing Stevie to become so upset. Verloc dismisses the group, but pulls Yundt aside and asks him if he can provide him with some explosives for his new assignment. Once alone, Verloc expresses his chagrin at their divergent views, wondering again if there is any coherent purpose of their activities. Winnie returns and urges Verloc to give Stevie some tasks to do, because Stevie is devoted to him. He promises to consider this and suggests that Stevie stay with Anna Mikhailis, and he will fetch Stevie when he needs him. She agrees with this plan and is happy. Winnie and Stevie’s mother, awakened by all the commotion, enters and announces that she has decided to move to a retirement home in order to give the family more space.
Winnie, her mother and Stevie outside the new residence. Winnie tries to discourage her mother from leaving, but she insists that her new lodgings will be better for her, and she will be out of their way. Stevie sings an aria “Good-bye Mum,” declaring that he will come and visit often and bring her his pictures to hang on the wall. This turns into a trio as the three bid each other farewell. The mother enters her new apartment, and Winnie and Stevie proceed on foot to return home. Along the way, Stevie notices things that disturb him, such as the many poor people in the area. A chorus of these poor sings about their lot and the fact that no one cares about them. Stevie naively asks Winnie why there are so many poor and what can be done to help them. She tries to explain and lovingly tells him that he is such a caring person, and she wishes to protect him from harm.
Verloc and Stevie at the Greenwich Observatory. Verloc plays on Stevie’s devotion to him and convinces Stevie to carry a parcel (which contains an explosive device) to the wall of the building, leave it there and meet him across the park. Stevie is eager to please Verloc and be his friend by doing this for him. Verloc activates the device and sends Stevie off, hoping that this clumsy boy will be able to do this simple task. As he watches, Stevie trips on a tree root and falls, resulting in an explosion, which kills Stevie instantly. Suddenly, in an apparition, Vladimir appears on the bench, berates Verloc for his failure to complete the mission, and fires him from the embassy. Verloc expresses disappointment about what has happened but has no remorse about what happened to Stevie, only what to tell Winnie. He decides to tell her he has not seen Stevie and, when Anna reports Stevie is not there, to say that he must have wandered off and gotten lost.
The crowd is abuzz with the news of the fatal terrorist act as Ossipon enters. Ossipon meets Yundt, tells him about the explosion, and asks if he was the one who sold the device. Yundt replies that recently he did sell a device to Verloc. Ossipon assumes that Verloc has been killed and decides to pay a call on Winnie, for whom he has harbored tender feelings. On the way, Yundt encounters Chief Inspector Heat of Scotland Yard. The two argue about the opposing causes of anarchy and the law, and Yundt asserts that his cause will ultimately prevail. With no evidence to hold against Yundt, they part. In an aria, Heat reveals that he has been to the morgue, where the body of the person in the park was unrecognizable. Nevertheless, he has retrieved a significant piece of evidence: a tag from the victim’s coat with an address on it. He plans to go there and thinks it is the address of one of his informants, Mr. Verloc. He indicates there is some information about the explosion that may point to the involvement of Anna Mikhailis. Heat wonders if he might get credit for bringing the mastermind of this crime to justice.
Verloc comes home and tells Winnie that he has had a difficult day and is tired. He also tells her that he has taken all his money out of the bank because he may have to leave the country for a time. As he prepares to go out again, she persuades him to leave the money with her, for safekeeping. She asks him about Stevie, and he tells her he has not seen him since taking him to Anna’s. He then leaves. Heat enters and asks for Verloc. Winnie tells him he is out. Heat begins to question her about the tag and she reveals that it is from her brother’s coat. Verloc returns and Heat asks to speak with him privately. Verloc all but confesses to his responsibility for the explosion and tells Heat to take him in. Heat replies that he is really looking for the person who ordered the act of terrorism and offers to let Verloc to leave the area if he will reveal the identity. Verloc tells Heat that he will try to keep Winnie from ever finding out about what happened to her brother. On the other side of the door, Winnie is horrified at learning of Stevie’s fate and furious that Verloc is responsible and lied to her. Winnie confronts Verloc with what he has done. Selfishly, he downplays the whole incident; it could have been worse if he had blown himself up. He tells her he is tired and hungry and Winnie storms upstairs. Verloc muses about getting her to come around in time, and begins to eat. Upstairs, Winnie sings a hymn to her dead brother, begging his forgiveness for her not being able to protect him from her monster husband and promises to set things right. She spots Stevie’s drawing compass and picks it up, knowingly. She slowly descends the stairs and enters the parlor, and stabs the sleeping Verloc several times, killing him. She then ponders her fate, reflecting that she does not want to be hanged for killing Adolf. She decides to try to leave the country herself and hurriedly packs a bag. Just as she is about to leave, Ossipon arrives, professing his feelings for her. She sees a way out of her situation, and tells him that she must get away because terrible things have happened. He mistakenly assumes that she is referring to Verloc being blown up in the park. He speaks about her being widowed and she cannot understand how he knows this, having only recently spilled her husband's blood. She pretends to return his feelings and asks that he take her to France. He protests that he has no money but she tells him she has all of Verloc’s, whereupon he agrees to take her away. Ossipon enters the house to get her bags and stumbles over Verloc’s body. He concludes that Winnie has murdered him and must indeed be mad. He decides to humor her for now.
Ossipon and Winnie have boarded the train to Southampton. Thinking he is her rescuer, Winnie has given Ossipon the money to buy the tickets and when he hands her the boat ticket, she allows him to hold onto the cash for safekeeping. As the train begins to move, Winnie falls asleep and Ossipon seizes the opportunity to leap off the slow moving train. After a brief interval, Winnie is awakened by the conductor, asking for her ticket. She asks him if he has seen her new companion, to which he shrugs a negative. Realizing that she has been abandoned, her money stolen, her beloved brother killed, and she will soon be wanted for murder, Winnie decides that she has nothing left to live for. She rises from her seat, walks in between the cars of the now speeding train and leaps to her death.
Curtis Bryant, composer Learn more here
Allen Reichman, librettist