Kurt Cobain’s final days are being turned into an opera

Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain’s final days are being turned into an opera by the Royal Opera House in London.

• READ MORE: Nirvana’s first NME cover feature from 1991: “I’m not sure how our original fans will cope”

The production, called Last Days, will be a production adapted from Gus Van Sant’s 2005 film of the same name.

The film, which was centred on a young musician called Blake, was loosely based on Cobain’s last days. Cobain died by suicide in 1994 aged 27.

A description from the Royal Opera House says that the opera “plunges into the torment that created a modern myth” and that “Blake” is “haunted by objects, visitors and memories distracting him from his true purpose – self-destruction”.

The opera has been composed by Oliver Leith, the Royal Opera House’s composer-in-residence. Directed by Copson and Anna Morrissey, it is due to be staged this October at the venue’s Linbury Theatre (via The Guardian). 

Leith said he was a “massive” Nirvana fan and that “the music soundtracked my teens. It’s some of the first music I learned to play on the guitar.

“I owe a lot of how I now make music to the sound of grunge from that time – I had never really thought about where my experimental mess and repetitions had come from.”

Recently, streams of Nirvana’s ‘Something In The Way’ surged following its inclusion in The Batman.

The deep cut from Nirvana’s classic 1991 album ‘Nevermind’ has surged on steaming platforms according to reports from MRC Data (via Billboard).

The song appeared twice in the film and also appeared in trailers leading up to the film’s release.

Reviewing The Batman, NME said: “Director Matt Reeves has mixed up gritty mob drama with film-noir detective thriller – and thanks to Dano’s ultra-creepy villain, some psychological horror too. Most of the time, it comes off brilliantly. Pattinson plays him with a dour fanaticism that only occasionally topples over into parody.”

For help and advice on mental health:

• CALM – The Campaign Against Living Miserably

• YOUNG MINDS – The voice for young people’s health and wellbeing

• Time To Change – Let’s end mental health discrimination

• The Samaritans – Confidential support 24 hours a day

• Help Musicians UK – Around the clock mental health support and advice for musicians (CALL MUSIC MINDS MATTER ON: 0808 802 8008)

• Music Support Org – Help and support for musicians struggling with alcoholism, addiction, or mental health issues (CALL: 0800 030 6789)

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