Better late than never; After being postponed five months ago when the leading man was taken ill, Ian McEwan's debut opera, For You, finally arrives in South Wales. KAREN PRICE meets the award-winning novelist...

Byline: KAREN PRICE 

WHEN your first opera has been such a long time coming - 26 years to be exact - what's a five-month delay between friends Ian McEwan and Michael Berkeley?

For You is a collaboration between author McEwan and composer Berkeley and it was initially due to premiere five months ago as part of the Hay Festival.

However, illness to its leading man, Eric Roberts, postponed the big night until late October and the subsequent tour was shunted back too.

But with the highly-anticipated work arriving at Sherman Cymru in Cardiff tonight, McEwan is relaxed as he sits in the basement bar of Jolyon's Boutique Hotel in Cardiff Bay.

McEwan, one of the UK's literary heavyweights, is the mind behind the likes of Enduring Love, On Chesil Beach and Atonement, which was turned into an award-winning film last year with Keira Knightley and James McAvoy.

I had been nervous about meeting McEwan because I'm a great admirer of his work but I instantly feel at ease in his company. With a relaxed manner, quietly-spoken McEwan gives no hint of self-importance.

He met Berkeley via his agent - who happens to be the composer's wife - and they first discussed collaborating on an opera 26 years ago, only to find their busy schedules a problem.

"Every time Michael said, 'come on, let's think about an opera' I would say 'yes' and three months later I'd say 'I've started a novel' and then he would start a major project," explains McEwan.

"Years would go by and then we'd say it again."

Once the pair finally committed to the piece they initially considered adapting an existing short story but decided that wouldn't be creative enough to satisfy them, so McEwan began work on a bespoke piece of writing.

Fourteen months later they had completed For You, the story of a womanising married composer called Charles Frieth.

McEwan said: "He's a compulsive womaniser and has a long-suffering wife. There's a Polish housekeeper called Maria who's sexually obsessed with him. There's a terrible misunderstanding that leads to the housekeeper performing a terrible act.

"Literature is always about human conflict of some kind. You cannot really write a novel, let alone an opera, about things going swimmingly.

"People would come away feeling distinctly depressed. You have to cheer them up with some terrible things happening."

The Booker Prize-winner, famed for his dark plotlines, says he believes writing an opera is like writing a short novel: "The characters are established very quickly. There's a strong central plot line with little branching sub-plots.

"The main difference with the language is knowing it's going to be sung so you know that however realistic you try to make it, you are in a world that's not fundamentally real - people talk to each other by singing and they're accompanied by an orchestra. The emotions get heightened. But you're trying to write a fairly condensed, simple, concise prose. I know enough about Michael's music to know he needed maximum freedom.

"It was a real pleasure and challenge in finding a language for it."

With his first opera libretto completed, McEwan has now returned to his regular beat, working on a new novel. "I've hardly started - I'm in the foothills," he says.

"If I say it's about climate change it will give you completely the wrong idea, so I will say that," he smiles.

"It's about sunbeams."

For You is performed at Sherman Cymru in Cardiff tonight.

Tickets cost pounds 8-pounds 14 from 029 2064 6900.

CAPTION(S):

WE FINALLYMADE IT: From left, Michael Berkeley, Ian McEwan, composer and librettist of For You. Inset above Allison Cook in the role of the obssessional housekeeper, Maria. PICTURES: Clive Barda