This was my first time at an opera and I
genuinely had no idea what to expect. My first impression walking into the
auditorium was that this opera was for quite a niche audience and I wasn’t so
sure I would fit in.
So Wagner
Dream is a biographical tale about the opera writer, Richard Wagner, who is
on the edge of death but insists on finishing off a piece he has dreamed of
writing for thirty years.
The play flits between real life where
Wagner, is now in his dying moments just after his heart attack and his play
which materialises as a hallucination before his eyes. Real life was quite dark
and the colours were quite dull but this was a nice contrast to the delusion
where the bright colours were more engaging and I found myself more intrigued.
Admittedly it took me quite a while to
get into the show but the themes seemed quite relatable and I found I quite
enjoyed the plot as it unravelled. Pataki must face obstacles in order to be
with the man she loves.
The subtitles were quite useful for
following the plot as the singing was in Pali, Sanskrit and German and the
spoken dialogue was in English. The only issue I found was that following the
subtitles made it harder to follow the action on stage. At some points the
subtitles seemed to be behind the actors and at other times I thought that the
subtitles were moving too quickly.
As a first time at the opera I thought
that Wagner Dream had a very
interesting plot.
I think now though that my first
impression was right and perhaps opera is not quite for me.
If you are an opera
fan though, I would definitely recommend you go see this one!
Check out the trailer!
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