The Italian Girl in Algiers

by Femke Van Schoonhoven

Name of Show: Italian Girls in Algiers

Director: Colin McColl

Venue: St James Theatre Wellington

Duration: 3 hours

I arrived at the St James Theatre about an hour early with my friend Claudia. We sat down on some couches and talked while we waited for other ambassadors to arrive. We had a feeling that the performance was going to be a dress rehearsal, but we weren’t very sure so we went to the information desk and asked. Sure enough it was a dress re-hearsal, and we were confused as more and more people began to turn up. We picked up a brochure we found lying around about the opera and read through the synopsis to fa-miliarize ourselves with what the opera was going to be about.

Italian Girls in Algiers was an opera. An Opera is an art form in which singers and mu-sicians perform a dramatic work which combines a text (called a libretto) and a musical score. Opera is part of the Western classical music tradition. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery and costumes and sometimes includes dance. The performance is typically given in an opera house, accompanied by an orchestra or smaller musical ensemble.

When the curtains were pulled back, i defiantly was not expecting to see a huge block of bright green on half of the stage. I instantly clocked on that they had created a green screen and noticed the cameras off to one side and a projector and screen hanging up above the stage. I became excited as i knew that this was going to be interesting. I was very surprised that there was no ‘side stage’ and that the wings had ben taken away and you could see everything that was going on off stage. As the opera began, I was sur-prised as I found out that it was a modern opera, when i was expecting a traditional op-era.

The set design was very impressive and colourful. The actors were wearing crazy col-oured outfits, and i really enjoyed the green men who walked onto the green screen and were then camouflaged and couldn’t be seen. I didn’t enjoy however that the opera was in Italian and had english subtitles. The subtitles were a distraction as i wanted to watch the actors not a screen of words. There was many things to look at, and a lot of technol-ogy being put into it to make it very modern. The props were amazing and everything seemed to be placed in the right spot where they would be placed in real life. The money seemed to be very well spent, as they had so many props and a huge set design. I could understand then why the tickets were so expensive, as it was clear that they had put a lot of money into the opera.

The actors were amazing and had great facials. The use of the camera for the green screen went well, and the extra characters were fun to watch. The costumes of the three maids were very cool, and the singing was fantastic. I enjoyed the music especially. The opera was very dramatic. However, if I hadn’t of read the synopsis, I might not have understand clearly what was going on.

The lighting in Italian Girls in Algiers was amazing. Everything was bright and colour-ful and really grasped your attention. I enjoyed this opera, as it was my first opera i have been to and i was not expecting such a modern, colourful and dramatic story line. I was really grasped into the opera as there was so much to look at on stage and off stage!

Femke van Schoonhoven

Chilton St James School