"8 Songs for a Mad King" is a surrealist opera that takes you into the mind of King George III as he mentally deteriorates with each song. Created by Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, It delves into his inner thoughts, hallucinations, and the chaos of his mind as he grapples with mental illness.
Song 4: To Be Sung on the Water (The Waterman) is visually told in the following way: Hundreds of painted white balls spill out of a bathtub with crow's feet. It blurs the line between reality and the feverish dreams of the mad king. The bathtub symbolizes the king's lost childhood, the fractured psyche, and obsession with the pressure of being a king.
