West Australian Opera’s Carmen is about to appear at His Majesty’s Theatre. As the indisputable most popular opera of all time it comes complete with some of the most recognisable tracks ever written by Georges Bizet. It will feature the likes of conductor Brad Cohen, American tenor Garrett Sorenson, WA homegrown talent Caitlin Hulcup and local star Zoe Kikiros. Kikiros took some time out to chat to OUTinPerth about this forthcoming production.
What can you tell us about Carmen the opera? It’s probably one of the most popular operas of all times. People would recognise a lot of the music in it, even if they hadn’t been to the opera, just through ads on TV or just hearing it around the place. It’s very recognisable and beautiful. It’s just a very personable story of someone falling in love with someone who’s not really right for them and it goes wrong. I think people would really be able to relate to it.
What can you tell us about the character you play, Micaëla? Micaëla is the foil to Carmen. As much as Carmen is seductive and exotic, Micaëla is modest, charming and very brave. She was introduced into the opera as an afterthought, someone who would be a foil to Carmen. She’s quite a good character to play because she develops from a shy 16 year old girl delivering news from Don Jose’s mother to being someone who goes to the smuggler’s cave and tries to drag Don Jose back to the army which he has defected from instead of being Carmen who becomes a smuggler. So she’s a really great character to play.
What are some of the themes this opera tackles? I think it tackles tensions between the desire for the exotic and then the fear of seductive potency. It’s interesting because it was written at a time when France was experiencing a lot of humiliation as a world power, around 1870 when it was being defeated during the Franco-Prussian war. It very much reflects politically what was happening at the time. Its tension really, tension between what you should be doing and what you really do want to do.
Would you say these themes – and opera – are still relevant today? I think there are tensions still happening today, tensions between what you want to do and what is expected of you, whether you should fall in love with the person you’re supposed to fall in love with or the person you really are attracted to. I think that’s going to be relevant forever.
And in this production you sing in French with English subtitles – how did that work for you? I always prefer to sing an opera in its original language, and especially French. It’s probably the most legato and lyric of all the languages. French is all about the line and there are not a lot of consonants to interfere with that so it’s somewhat softly sung. It’s interesting because it does have dialogue, so we’ve all had a French coach to make sure we’re doing the right thing.
Finally, it was reported that at the time of its debut in 1875 it caused a bit of scandal. Why was that? I think Bizet was branded a bit of a bohemian. At the time women were thought to thrive in domestic confinement and stereotypically sexless and selfless wives. So this idea of a highly seductive exotic woman was quite scandalous at the time. And I think that’s because she’s someone who is not controlled by a man. She was just this free spirit who refuses to be pinned down. It was quite a scandalous thing at the time.
Carmen opens at His Majesty’s Theatre on April 13 and appears April 15, 17, 20, 22 and 24 at 7.30pm. Tickets are available now. www.bocsticketing.com.au
Scott-Patrick Mitchell
