Dublin Jack

The opera dramatises the life of Jack Saul (born John Saul), a flamboyant gay man and one of the most notorious rent boys of the Victorian era. The narrative, presented in concert form as the first two acts of a larger work, opens in a male bordello on Cleveland Street, where Jack (in his 30s) meets Sid, a young newcomer he tries to warn of the harsh experiences ahead. After Sid’s first client, he commits suicide. The second act follows Jack at a New Year’s Eve party at an aristocrat’s home, where class and power dynamics are explored, and he shares a duet with a closeted lesbian aristocrat. The work ends with Jack haunted by Sid’s ghost in a nightmare. Set against a backdrop of post-Famine Dublin and imperial London, the opera explores the messy power plays of agency, class, and colonialism tied to queer Anglo-Irish identity