Silent Opera: La Boheme

It was as if they had transported me back to my teenage years. Sitting on a bean bag, an air of anticipation filling the loft, we lie back listening to music on our headphones, surrounded by posters of inspirational Bob Marley quotations, Vegan Society pamphlets and wall hangings. On one side of the room, a young man sits in front of multiple computer monitors filled with lines of code while a leather jacketed, tattooed man sits at the kitchen table painting. Welcome to modern day bohemia. And welcome to Silent Opera: La Boheme.

Directed by Daisy Evans, recipient of the Sky Arts Futures Fund and also creator of last year’s Silent Opera: Dido & Aeneas produced in association with Old Vic New Voices, this immersive, contemporary reimagining of Puccini’s La Boheme is one of the major events taking place at VAULT.

With backing by Sky Arts and Sennheiser providing the swish headphones, La Boheme sees opera – and the audience itself – let loose. As Puccini’s masterful score, courtesy of University of London Symphony Orchestra, courses through the headphones, the scene unfolds before you, around you and behind you. As such, Act 1 finds us in Rodolpho and Marcello’s flat, a perfect tableau of oh-so-many creatives, troubled by the familiar fear of impending rent payments which continue to throw a spanner in the works of artistic aspirations.

Initially it is a strange experience, dealing with the novelty of headphones and the sudden appearance of singing performers from beside you, bounding around the room, relocating audience members to find their marks. But after a few disorientating minutes, the ethos of Silent Opera becomes clear and once embraced, is a truly unique experience. With your personal speakers allowing you to move around the space, you are able to not only hear the layers of the music but those of the performance itself. Marcello’s vibrato pulses through you as you stand together in the queue to the nightclub; Musetta seductively brushes past you as she struts to the stage; and god help you if you get in the way of the impenetrable embrace of lovers Mimi and Rodolpho.

For me, one of the best things about Silent Opera is the freedom you are given to direct your own performance. Moving through the space, I often found myself standing beside the supporting characters, observing their interactions and reaction to the main action, something you just can’t witness on stage when the stage lights are making the decisions about where you should be looking.

The cast are undoubtedly talented, an admirable bunch of classically trained performers making the Royal Academy proud by bringing opera to the masses and demonstrating that these classic stories are just as transferable from the 19th Century opera houses to modern day fringe theatre. Despite the serious subject matter of the plot, as poor Mimi this time meets her demise at the hands of an eating disorder, the performance is light-hearted and endearing, filled with nods to the pop-culture obsessions of the modern-day bohemian. One scene worthy of particular reference being the possible homage to Spaced as the ensemble erupts into a slow motion gun fight, only broken up by a giant inflatable penis and sheep in red panties. While some aspects of this modern adaptation lie a little awkwardly, it’s not necessarily a distraction from the performance, except perhaps the line ‘You’re looking very thin, babez’. Inspired.

To experience this beautiful opera on such an intimate scale is a fantastic experience for opera fans and novices alike, bringing the setting, music and characters bang up to date. And bringing us with them. I for one cannot wait to see what other operas we’ll be allowed to infiltrate next.

Silent Opera: La Boheme is taking place as part of VAULT festival until February 26 at:

The Old Vic Tunnels
Leake Street
Waterloo
SE1 8SW

Image courtesy of Silent Opera and Natalie Lindiwe Jones