Opera som levende teater: Teatermetodiske praksiser som nøkler til nærvær på operascenen

Academic summary

OPERA AS LIVING THEATRE
Theatrical practices as keys to presence on the opera stage

The project’s primary focus is to explore how best to facilitate spontaneous, responsive, and living processes unfolding among singers on the opera stage.

But how does one foster such processes when the characters' timing and emotions are already determined by the composer and encoded in the music? How can one create living dramatic situations when roles are rehearsed in advance, rehearsal time is limited, and the musical and vocal demands are exceptionally high?

Drawing on theatrical practices, the project seeks methods to cultivate and protect the mode of being present on the opera stage. The core methodology involves gathering, adapting, and articulating relevant tools for opera singers to use during their work on stage. These tools are designed to help singers experience psychophysical processes on stage, facilitate stage presence, and revitalize the performance. The aim of this methodology is to help replace tendencies toward generic or superficial acting with living, responsive processes.

The art of the opera director can be said to comprise two main areas: shaping the music-dramatic narrative within the performance space, and the concrete work with singers in rehersal. It is this latter aspect of the director's craft that is explored here; through a theatre-based approach, the project examines how opera singers can be encouraged to engage in living processes during their work with the characters, and to maintain a genuine presence on stage.

While the project touches upon musical aspects of the opera, it primarily addresses the theatrical dimensions. The project focuses on the opera singer as an actor; through workshops and smaller-scale opera projects, various tools are tested and evaluated.

Upon completion, the aim is to have articulated a set of relevant, effective tools that help opera singers maintain a vivid presence during active stage scenarios—whether involving two or more characters or during aria sequences where singers perform individually.

The final artistic output will comprise several components: a short performance showcasing work from the workshops and highlighting key elements of the project; video clips featuring excerpts from opera productions and workshop sessions with singers; interviews with opera singers, and four podcast episodes in which I discuss the concepts of "presence" and "responsiveness" with a psychologist, an actor, a comedian and a director. The project’s reflection will explain the interrelationships between the various parts of the doctoral work and also include a section summarizing and evaluating the different tools. I hope that the project—not least through the 'toolkit' presented—will prove useful to opera singers, directors, and other performing artists.