There is a heightened sense of excitement in the air this evening as I walk toward the Leeds Grand Theatre to meet a few friends and to take in Opera North's latest offering - a new production of Bizet's Carmen.
Most of my friends are not regulars when it comes to opera, and a number of them when asked if they would like to attend a performance have often voiced concerns that they might not enjoy it. Some even said opera wasn't their thing without ever having experienced it.
Their concerns are not unique and in a broader context opera has over the years experienced diminished appeal within some social groups.
Opera attempts to reposition itself with modern audiences
With younger generations opera and classical music has come to be seen as overly stuffy and to be perceived as an artform that primarily appeals to a white, affluent and increasing older audience.
This attutitude has seen many organisations in this field struggling to connect to new audiences and seen the delivery of opera undertaking a rethink.
Innovation in the pursuit of popular appeal has become something of a trend.
The Royal Opera House and New York's Metropolitan Opera have both been active in exploring cinema and 3D cinema in an attempt to address dwindling audiences, and not to be outdone the English National Opera has recently been collborating with Sky TV in order to broadcast opera live and in 3D to audiences in their own homes.
The very nature of opera, in both its form and delivery, has become a point of exploration and this is a topic that no modern opera company with any interest in its audience can avoid.
My group of friends and myself are sampling this evenings performance at the theatre rather than the cinema. We've manged to gather a little posse together with a varied range of experience of opera - the most experienced having had a career in classical music and least being a self proclaimed opera virgin. And whilst I'm no virgin to opera, neither am I a know-it-all.
My point of reference to such events stems from an appreciation of general theatre, a critical understanding of cinema, a love of music and an understanding of wider popular culture. I'm not a purist and I doubt that I ever will be.
Carmen - retold and relocated
This French opera, originally set in Spain in the early 19th century, tells the story of the beautiful and fiery young woman, Carmen, as she woos Don José, a young soldier only to later reject him in favour of the attentions of the bullfighter, Escamillo. Made mad with jealousy Don Jose then murders Carmen.
With Opera North's production, American director Daniel Kramer has certainly made some bold moves with his reworking of Bizet's masterpiece, having transformed Escamillo from a bullfighter to a bull dog fighter, relocated Carmen from Spain to modern-day Midwestern America and perhaps more controversially cutting a good 45 minutes from the original.
With drunken cheerleaders, American trailer trash, and Michael Jackson-esque dance moves forming part of the backdrop for this version I can't help but see a visual reference to current hit American television shows such as Glee and the set of act two even has a strong hint of the hit series True Blood.
Removing period dress and transposing the drama into a modern-day setting removes one of the barriers of entry for opera novices. Visual references to contemporary culture can aid in helping an audience relate to the events which unfold on the stage – using much of what the audience already knows from everyday life as a canvas for the overarching narrative.
Though my personal preference would have been to experience the 45 minutes that has been cut from the production I can't help but acknowledge the audience-centric logic behind the decision. With contemporary media-savy audiences comfortable experiencing films that are between an hour and a half to two hours long, shortening the performance would seem like a sensible suggestion.
Language isn't a barrier
One question I can't quite avoid with this production is whether in moving the setting to contemporary America should the original French opera have been translated into English? On first inspection this would seem common sense, but then the original itself, sung in French and set in Spain, was never linguistically true to its setting in the first place.
Although an English version would be infinitely easier for an English-speaking audience to understand, where singing is concerned the voice often transcends the spoken word and the transformation of Carmen into the English language might see it lose the musicality of the French language that the score was written in respect of.
Do you need to understand French to enjoy Carmen? No. Effective communication is only ever really about seven per cent words - non verbal clues such as visual impact, the idiosyncracies of the actors' performances, the intonation of song, and the dynamics of the music all carry the meaning of the performance.
Opera, being both musical and theatrical, conveys its meaning in a way much more substantial than spoken word alone, but just in case you wish to understand the verbal discourse many modern performances are accompanied with loosely translated subtitles.
Though I know that there will be harsh critical commentary from many regular opera goers with pre-set expectations of what to expect, it's still a very enjoyable performance. It's certainly an interesting experiment in the conventions of Carmen - worthy of seeing to acknowledge its differences to the traditional telling of the tale.
An opera company to be proud of
In the attempt to bring opera to a wider audience there is always going to be a play off between a production's acceptance into popular culture and its artistic credablity – it's a balancing act that many forms of art and modern media struggle with and a discourse that opera cannot afford to be exempt from. But I do feel that Opera North explores this balance very well indeed.
Leeds is fortunate to host a company with such a good reputation and even luckier that such a company is so willing to explore opera's conventions. Whilst the opera fanatics among the audience might react to the shortened score with disdain I sense an element of popularism that will make this production approachable to a much wider audience.
My friend the opera virgin had a good night and enjoyed the performance. I had a good night and also really enjoyed it, as I think did the rest of our group.
Opera North's orchestra are one of the marvels of Leeds and if you have never been to the opera before then the music of Carmen will be a recognisable and reassuring starting point. I would urge you to sample the brave work of Opera North, be it Carmen or any of company's future productions. We don't need to go see it in 3D at the cinema as we are very lucky to have the real thing on our doorstep.
Kramer's production of Carmen will return to the Grand Theatre in April and in the meantime do check out the program of events at Opera North's website to see what other gems the company have to offer.
Guest blogger Nathan Richards runs digital company Lateral Acid and has a passion for arts and culture.
