Ghost Sonata
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Using text from the original Swedish play by August Strindberg written in 1907, The Ghost Sonata was adapted as a chamber opera in 1984 by Aribert Reimann. It tells the macabre story of a student who stumbles into a house inhabited by ghosts – souls trapped in Hell on Earth. Opera Australia is staging it in their Surry Hills scenery workshop.
“That’s absolutely perfect because the acoustics are very nice, and it’s a very nice space.[…] It’s absolutely ideal for what we’re doing and what we’re trying to achieve,” says Shanul Sharma who is playing The Student in the production. Sharma came to opera via an unconventional route, having previously sung heavy metal, rock, and Bollywood songs. As he describes it, “They’re all just like colours on a palette.”
Singing heavy metal turned out to be good training for opera.
“The only way for somebody like me to get heard [over the loud music] was to sing very high,” Sharma explains. There’s also a strong element of drama and a tendency towards dark subject matter, which certainly prepares him for this role. The music is atonal, indistinct, chaotic, with no discernible melody.
“Not to say that this isn’t pretty, but it’s definitely not mainstream,” says Sharma. “It’s trying to depict a very dysfunctional Hell on Earth using the means of classical instruments…the music is there to provide texture rather than an accompaniment to the singers.”
Unlike traditional opera, there are no arias as such, but rather monologues and solo scenes. The costumes and set will reflect the grim, gothic nature of the story. While the opera sticks close to the original play, the music adds another dimension to the experience.
“A play is a play where a story is being told with costumes and sets and actors and everything, but as soon as you add the element of music or at least some kind of musicality in it, it kind of like, it reaches out to the emotional center of our brain,” says Sharma. “If you’re a fan of theatre, you should definitely come and see it, but you have to throw your expectations out…be ready for an atonal onslaught that’s going to come your way!”
Sep 11−14. Opera Australia Scenery Workshop, The Opera Centre, Dawson St, Surry Hills. $89+b.f. Tickets & Info: www.opera.org.au
By Rita Bratovch
