Fast food, speed dating, instant messaging, we definitely live in the moment and now Scottish Opera gives us Five: 15 – Opera for the ADD Generation.
Featuring five very short – as the name suggests – operas created or co-created by some of the countries most interesting talents including novelists Alan Spence and Edinburgh’s own Makar, Ron Butlin working together with composers using traditional and non-traditional settings and instrumentation. Five: 15 gives the audience a series of bite sized quirky operatic treats.
As you would expect from such diverse talents the settings and stories differ from the usual boys meet girl, girl falls under spell of enchanter, librettos of grand opera and these mini masterworks feature such differing themes as Stalinist pogroms, Sci Fi, and psychodrama taking the audience as far as possible from the stuffy – and occasionally bum-numbing world of traditional opera.
Of course one aspect which will still be in play are the wonderful voices that Scottish Opera is blessed with and part of the fun will be watching them contain the power and emotion required in La Scala within the more intimate surroundings of the Traverse Theatre and Òran Mór.
For those new to opera this should provide an interesting if atypical introduction and to the aficionados it will be a something new and tangy to get their teeth into. Whoever you are this promises to be an interesting experience and if you don’t like one opera don’t worry there will be another one along in a minute.
Showing @Traverse Theatre from 20th – 25th May, then touring