My first reaction to the opera was "What language are they speaking?! Why isn't it Russian?!" I was actually looking forward to understanding what was being said at the performance. I suppose romance languages are pretty popular among theatre. And even if they are speaking English, there's always an accent, probably British. But I digress. As a lot of you guys said, the background was a depressing gray and was simple yet effective. It served the purpose to show the bleakness of the prison and how it's the polar opposite of luxury.

By class time on Wednesday, I had only read a portion of Dostoevsky's The House of the Dead. After reading this much of the novel, I was very interested to see how the story would transfer onto stage. It was very difficult to imagine how Janacek could possibly transform this story into an opera. The performance was not at all what I had anticipated based on my prior knowledge of the opera. In class, Professor Bergman mentioned that we might find ourselves waiting for the song to start, and I caught myself doing this just a few minutes into the performance.

      Meryl Streep's appearance at House of Dead did not prove to be the only thrill of the performance. Before I detail what I enjoyed, our class discussion helped me appreciate the Opera much more. Thank you, Professor Bergman! To begin, I thought the set was incredible. Arguably it was drab and captured the atmosphere of prison life, but the depth and color really inspired more in the performance.  I could see how the set had the essence of a Stalinist gulag, but I felt otherwise. The set resonated to me as a futuristic interpretation of a barrack.

       House of the Dead by Dostoevsky explores remorse. Observing the condition of his cell mates, Alexander Petrovich states, "I never once saw among these men the slightest sign of remorse, the least gnawing of conscience, and that the majority of them believed themselves to have done nothing wrong," (16).  Petrovich's observation separates him from the other prisoners. Not only does it suggest that he alone is remorseful, but that he is morally superior.

 Firstly, I must say that this was my first experience at an opera and it was definitely not what I had expected. I guess I had imagined a stereotyped version of the opera in which a rather thick woman dominates the stage and sings until her lungs can give no more. Yet, this opera was different on various levels. To begin, the show was mostly composed of men. Next, the singing was actually not as loud as I thought it would be ( I imagined it might be a bit unbearably loud, I guess expect some superpower voice). Thirdly, the performance greatly resembled a theatrical showing.