
The House of the Rising Sun is a place of transition in music and folklore. It’s a purgatory where travelers, vagabonds, and lost souls cross paths before continuing toward their life after. Absolution is a snapshot of that purgatory, that waiting room, where souls must accept the regrets and disappointments in their lives before they can cross over. Personal struggles are highlighted in duets and solos throughout the piece. Some remorse is too difficult to let go, though, and while many find reprieve from their sins and escape the cycle of self-recrimination, others are doomed to stay and repeat it.
Directed by Stirling Matheson and Sarah Farnsley (USA)