'Please be on stage'

No. Absolutely not, under no circumstances. I'm writing an opera, and I highly doubt that Luke is ever asked to portray a role, let alone Gareth (who actually does do stage work). It's silly: a lot of my peers are really excellent performing musicians on their instrument. They're just not as famous, and that was largely based on stuff I did in my room or on the streets as a activist-busker, not in a concert hall. -

So, yeah, I've got a chip on my shoulder a mile wide. I don't want reckons from NZ Opera's board, given that they haven't commissioned me. If they decide to pay me to write it, then they can have input. This is literally the same fight I had over Weeded Out.

Pay me fairly for my work as a writer, rather than insisting that you'll only pay me if I perform. As the movie people found out, I have IP rights and I'm more than willing to refuse to licence my opera if that's what it takes to tell you shits to back off and give me some actual room to experiment and (gasp) make mistakes as I compose!