The restless mind of Antonio Marras this season alighted on the sad story of Princess Romanework, the eldest daughter of Haile Selassie.
As a counterpoint to the story of the princess, Marras also considered the 1880 self-exile of Arthur Rimbaud to Harar in Ethiopia as a refuge from his tempestuous relationship with Paul Verlaine and the strictures of conservative France. This led Marras to also consider Bruce Chatwin—the title of his final book,What Am I Doing Here, was taken from a Rimbaud line, and he wrote a libretto about Rimbaud’s time in Harar.