“Popera: Sex, Death and Politics is one of the newer forms of stand-up comedy. Sharply observational, character driven and less reliant on one-liners which were the hall-marks of older style comedy”
Kate Stratford
3.5 Stars
Venue : Factory Theatre Marrickville
Sydney Comedy Festival
Dates:14-18th May
Inspired by a love of singing pop songs in an operatic style Bronny Lane and Uma Dobia, both alumni of the Conservatorium of Music at Melbourne University, came up with the concept of a game show with a musical focus and feminist bent. Here, Maria Callas meets Mariah Carey in a pop quiz about opera, divas and poor male behaviour; the latter underscored by our hostess’ own treatment at the hands of Trevor, her lover/assistant who dumps her by video at the beginning of the show. Our diva’s manufactured breakdown is meant to underscore the historical abuse divas have received at the hands of male composers, storylines and partners. I already knew of Mozart being a “dick” (as a millennial once told me) to soprano Adriana Ferrarese del Bene. Knowing her tendency to drop her chin on low notes, and throw her head back on high notes, Mozart filled her aria Come scoglio with constant jumps from high to low and back again, making her head bob like a chicken on stage. And it is a common operatic trope for sopranos to die in the arms of tenors. Then of course in reality, there was the horrific abuse suffered by Maria Callas at the hands of Aristotle Onassis.
Arriving dressed as a diva with a voice to shatter glass is Uma Dobia, takes the audience through 3 rounds of the game show (sex, death and politics), inviting audience participation. This is always a tricky move as the proposition from the stage to participate inevitably leads to a moment of unease in the audience. After all, this is not the Twenty-Sided Tavern where most of the audience hope to be invited to participate. But there were volunteers and an enthusiastic Dobia pushed through those pace glitches.
Apart from some snapshot performances of famous arias, there are original songs written by Lande and Dobia and arranged and produced by Simon Reich. Popera Mash-up and Sex, Death & Politics, are pop-come-rap songs coupled with opera; but the ballad Opera Did The Girls Dirty with lines like “Puccini gave us the butterfly and Beethoven pulled off her wings” is the coalescence of the show’s themes.
Popera: Sex, Death and Politics is one of the newer forms of stand-up comedy. Sharply observational, character driven and less reliant on one-liners which were the hall-marks of older style comedy. Possibly the show could benefit from better control of pace – nothing benefits live performance more than complete control of timing and delivery; but this still a gratifying acknowledgement that women, not just men, suffer (and have suffered) for their art.
Photo by Zena Photography
Kate Stratford, Theatre Now
