BY CARISSA DYALL
Lorelei
Victorian Opera (click here for the full creative team)
The Malthouse Theatre, 3 November
What’d you miss?
- Guitar in the orchestra
- Endless doors trapping the characters
- Penis emoji and Aussie accents
The Victorian Opera world premiere of Lorelei takes the Lorelei legend, shakes it up, gives the female characters a voice, and delivers.
In German lore, Lorelei is a siren of enchanting beauty that sits atop a rock along the Rhine River and sings to sailors, causing them to crash upon the rocks. As a human, she was cheated on by her lover and throws herself into the river in despair. She is then transformed into a siren and spends her days enchanting sailors with her songs, luring them to an inevitable death.
The VO production brought this to life, albeit abstractly and with three different Lorelei. There was laughter. There were tears. And there was even more laughter. The three leads – Dimity Shepherd, Ali McGregor, and Antoinette Halloran – provided a powerful and compelling performance about womanhood that was filled with humour, drama, and heart. Here are some highlights.
1. Guitar in the orchestra.
My little guitarist heart was filled with joy to see a guitarist in the orchestra pit. Though, this did raise some questions on how such an instrument would fit in with the rest of the chamber orchestra.
To his credit, Julian Langdon provided a great orchestration for this production, and the musicians played it seamlessly. The guitar provided some extra grit to the more cabaret-style numbers; and, with a little help from modern technology, was amplified for everyone to hear.
2. It’s not Lorelei’s fault sailors keep being lured to their deaths.
Lorelei A makes this perfectly clear – it is all the sailors’ faults. They should have been less exposed and less easy to kill…
3. ALL the doors!!
Nine doors were used in the set (that I counted): Three doors for each of the three rooms (the patriarchy) in which the three Lorelei were trapped.
As the climax of the opera hit, and Lorelei A desperately attempted to escape, the doors kept opening back to the very same rooms that held them; not allowing them to leave their harsh reality.
4. The costumes.
One word to describe the costumes – stunning! Not only that, they presented a visual metaphor for the emotional state of the three Lorelei.
The characters started off fully dressed in all their glory; and, as the characters started to question their existence and purpose, layers came off, heels were removed, and hair was untied.
As the opera came to a close, the three Lorelei characters were redressed by stagehands. Somewhat dishevelled, the three sang about how they were going back to the same old existence, but that there might (highly unlikely) be hope for the future.
5. Poking fun at the trope of female leads dying in opera.
What more can be said? Female characters in opera simply need to start dying less because of broken hearts or jealous men. This production showed it’s time to give opera women the chance to take control of their own lives.
As a side note, it was great to see that a whole lot of women worked on this production, including director Sarah Giles, and musical director Phoebe Briggs.
6. Eggplant emoji.
What happens when an opera is sung in the language most of the audience understands? It adds some eggplant emoji, just to make sure the audience really comprehends that the singers are singing about penis.
Mere words cannot fully describe this incredible production. It is easy to see that everyone worked hard to take this production from a concept to the success it is, from the directors, singers and musicians to the design teams and backstage crew. Here’s to more innovative opera that pushes boundaries, explores contemporary issues, and is sung with an Australian accent.
Would I watch Lorelei again? Definitely.
Would I recommend this to everyone? Yes.
Images supplied. Credit: Pia Johnson.
