The Biblical story of humankind’s first murder – Cain’s slaying of his brother Abel – isn’t a tale you associate with warm orange cordial, folding tables, plastic cricket sets and the tang of Aerogard.

But in Pinchgut Opera’s new production of Scarlatti’s The First Murder (Il primo omicidio), the primal drama described in Genesis unfolds not in some distant Eden-adjacent past, but in the uneasy intimacy of an Australian beach holiday, where sibling rivalry, parental expectation and the long, hot days conspire to bring old tensions to the surface.

For the production’s director, Dean Bryant, The First Murder is better served by a focus on psychology than Old Testament theology.

“Even in a family where they’ve raised their kids as well as they can, envy and tension build up,” Bryant says during a rehearsal break. “It’s just as human to be jealous, to want to be seen, as it is to be respectful and kind.”

That duality, he adds, sits at the core of Scarlatti’s score.

“It’s a really good piece for exploring those two fundamentally different urges that drive humanity – the urge to create and the urge to destroy.”

Ewen Herdman,...