Opaque Opera

Opera Opaque, what could it be about? We thought before entering the dance house. Were we going to see an opera or perhaps a dance performance? We discussed and talked, but even after the discussion we had no idea what we were going to see.

As we entered the auditorium, we were greeted by smiling actors on a stage with few backdrops. The room was dark and the focus was on a single blue curtain in the middle of the hall.

The theater is about two adults' attachment to an old lady. This theme sounds relatively simple in itself, but the way the theater is performed makes it incredibly interesting.

The performance opaque operais a combination of puppet theater and shadow theater. It is in French, but the actors say very little during the performance. Despite the fact that they don't speak, they make sounds and the music is actively used.

On stage we meet three characters. A man, a woman and an old lady. The old lady is played by a puppet. The actors control the puppet, and manage to make the movements look real. The old lady is not the only puppet in the play, we also meet a cat.  

The use of puppets in the play made us very interested. The puppets were funny and made the audience laugh again and again. Both the old lady and the cat had a hostile relationship with the young woman in the play. Personally, I thought the funniest thing of all was when the cat attacked the young lady. I think younger children would have enjoyed the puppet show very much, but the puppets looked a bit creepy.

The appearance of the puppets contributes to the play not being suitable for young children. We agree that the age group the theater is proposed for is correct. Children younger than 8 will find the play scary. Several of us from SUS found the performance uncomfortable to watch at times, including during the episode with the sharks and because of the old lady.

As previously mentioned, there is no dialog in the piece. We thought they managed to utilize this very well with music and other sounds. There were only two people on stage, and we felt that the sounds filled the void where they were not. The sounds the actors made made it easier to understand the characters' feelings towards each other. Their good body language also meant that we understood more of the performance.

Several of us were very impressed by the sets. The costumes matched the scenery and gave us a feeling that the action was taking place in old Paris. There were three curtains on the stage, which had muted blue and yellow colors. The man in the play looked like a circus director, which fitted in well with the scenery. We also thought that the use of light during the performance was good. Both in the shadow theater and by focusing on the different people on stage.

Although we thought the show was very good, it also had negative aspects. The shadows, the puppetry, the scenery and not to mention the actors were impressive! What made us like the play less was the plot. We were six girls watching the play, but only one of us understood what it was about. When a children's play doesn't contain dialogue, I think it's harder to get the plot across. If you manage to get the story across using images and sounds, that's great, but I feel that they didn't manage this during the performance. It was difficult for us to see the connection between the shadow theater and the events between the three characters.

Opera opaque was fantastic in many ways, but the lack of understanding of the plot means that we do not give the play five theater masks. I laughed a lot, and I'm very happy that I got to see the play. We were all pleasantly surprised by the performance.