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Friday 8 February 2013

An Observation

22 of the last 50 opera productions I have seen have had one or more chairs thrown in them.

It is my pet hate in opera direction.



4 comments:

  1. Maybe you can start the opera version of Ebert's Movie Cliches, and the thrown chair can be a sister to the Fruit Cart Scene? (http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19900223/GLOSSARY/50222004/1023)

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  2. There's an idea! There are probably too many if we include the works themselves - 18th and 19th century opera is basically entirely constructed out of clichés!

    But we could do director clichés. Zerbinetta at Likely Impossibilities has done a few posts on this topic, though I can't find them. The one I remember most is the stage within a stage one which is very in vogue.

    But chair throwing is SUCH a clumsy and painful to watch directorial decision. In my real life I have seen it happen only once when someone was angry.

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  3. I remember reading one recently over at Zerb's: the kind of anguished clasp that the ladies-in-waiting always hold their hands in.

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