On Wednesday (20th) my auntie took me with her to the Optus Theatre at the CSIRO Discovery centre to watch a screening of Orlando Furioso -an epic poem adapted to opera by Vivaldi. At first I had thought, it would be a good opportunity to experience and broaden my knowledge of sophisticated arts and 'High Culture' since I had never seen any kind of opera before.
If you ignore the fact that I was the ONLY young person there, and that I was totally ignorant of the many aspects of opera that made you appreciate it, and that sometimes it didn't have subtitles, and that the "sleepy after dinner" feeling was kicking in, then yeah, I suppose it was alright. The costume and set design weren't bad and most of the time I could figure out what was going on -and there were even some funny parts. The funny parts were made even more amusing because of the fact that they were singing opera haha.
Though I must admit during the intermission I was quite relieved to find they had supplied 5 different types of complimentary coffee. In fact I was so relieved that I burnt my tongue. Meanwhile my auntie got involved in a discussion about the operan -none of which I understood except for something about the opera being performed in the Baroque (is that spelt right?) style, and that it was rare to hear a 'something-tenor'.
The old lady sitting next to me was quite impressed with my attentiveness throughout the screening and said, "You're doing quite well to tolerate this." Aww... =)
From what I gather, the opera was filled with sorcery, Gods, plotting, cross-dressing, a mix of good and bad singing, and at some point almost every character accused their lover of being unfaithful. This is mainly because the sorceress kept using her magic to charm every good-looking guy she saw. Though of course in the end she was overthrown and everything worked out fine.
In conclusion, always check the age group of those in attendance before you go see opera.
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