Upon looking over the page, I noticed that a post I thought I had made had not posted and so now, weeks after the performance here I am discussing my take on the performance.
Going into the opera I did not believe my experience would be any better than my first with this kind of performance. During my first experience, I was incredibly bored. The subtitles were displayed above the stage which made it very hard to watch what was going on on the set while reading the translations. It made it very hard to keep up with the plot of the play and there were not many jokes and one-liners thrown into the opera to make it even remotely funny.
This first experience put a cloud over me, and prevented me from really appreciating this art. My new experience at the Metropolitan Opera House broke me free of that cloud and fog. Even in the opening scenes of the performance I was baffled by the ingenuity of the set. The way it was able to rotate to provide a dynamic set was a true incredible feat of engineering. This was the first thing that had captivated me, of course the music playing was quite lively and performed with no signs of mistakes, but as a prospective engineer I must put the technology of the art above the art itself. Another piece of tech that I found that made the experience more enjoyable was the personal subtitles playing before me. They allowed me to quickly jump between the words and the action on the stage in a way much better than at my previous excursion to the opera.
Besides the tech used, I had also thoroughly enjoyed the plot of the play. Although at first it was a little confusing, the characters’ lives were all carefully interwoven in a way that would cause massive confusion and misunderstandings. As an audience, we can only laugh at all the misunderstandings and confusion on stage but understanding the play as a whole and seeing where it originates and the inspiration of the play you can appreciate it in a more fulfilling way. In class I was surprised learning that the play was essentially an insult to the estate lords of Spain. It just goes to show that even a work of culture, a form an entertainment, can have large political and socially driven motives.
-Kevin Call
Hi Kevin,
Yes, yes, yes – I totally agree about the fascinating technological aspects of the show. The device with the “personal subtitles” is called an electronic libretto system, and it is used in many opera houses. Some people find issue with it because it can distract the eyes from the attention of the play, but I actually found it to be really helpful. Plus, you can always turn it off!
The rotating stage also baffled me. It’s so brilliant, because it can change a scene in no time. I’d never seen anything like it. For the beautiful set design, we can thank Set Designer Rob Howell. I don’t, however, know who to thank for the electronic libretto!