Reivew of Persophone's Dream --> by guest reviewer Altaf Kassam!

I asked my Dad to review an opera he saw by his friend Anna and he has kindly done so. There's nothing else to say but enjoy!!....

Last Friday night I went to see an opera called “Persephone’s Dream” which was topical for at least two reasons: 1. The subject was COVID-19, 2. It was the first live performance I had seen since the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown in the UK. First, a bit about the setup: As the theatre needed everyone to be socially distanced, we could only attend with members of our bubbles and we had to sit in designated seats, spaced out from each other, led in individually by ushers.  This meant there were only 25 tickets sold in a theatre which has a capacity of 220.  The same on the way out – We had to wait for users to lead us out and couldn’t “mingle”. Once we were sat down it was time for the opera: There were only two performers – Persephone herself who mostly sat in one place, and sang, and the Chimera who was also quite stationary, and played the cello (using a couple of effects pedals at times) beautifully.  But, the most interesting part for me was that the opera chorus was made up of 13 (I think) live Zoom call participants projected onto a screen at the back.  We could only see their heads and shoulders, and they all used similar call backgrounds so it looked they might have been all in one place, which really added to the eerie effect.  But they were only a “Chorus of Curious Eyes” as they were all on mute. As for the story itself – I must admit I couldn’t really understand it (and I was relieved to say I heard someone else say that afterwards).  There were references to handwashing and social distancing so I could tell the subject was the COVID-19 pandemic but I found it hard to understand more.  However, the music was captivating, the singing powerful, and the setup striking, so it was an interesting experience overall. So, I am really glad I went as it was truly something different for me (I don’t attend a lot of operas), and it also gave an idea of how live performances could work during lockdown.

Altaf Kassam