Feature

Sydney Opera House is “a big, brutal work” says director

by Angus McPherson on 27 October, 2016

David Freeman discusses The Eighth Wonder, aka Sydney Opera House, The Opera, ahead of its opening tonight.

The steps of the Sydney Opera House were inspired by Aztec architecture. Tiered platforms form a meeting place between the gods who descend from above and the humans who ascend from below. “But the gods come down and eat their hearts,” explains the director of The Eighth Wonder, the opera inspired by the building of the Opera House itself, “which you could argue is what happened to Jørn Utzon.”

Billed as Sydney Opera House – The Opera, The Eighth Wonder will take over the Opera House steps, Utzon’s iconic building forming both the subject and part of the set. The extravagant production will use gliding platforms and screens, with the singers, chorus and orchestra delivering Alan John’s music to the audience through headphones. “I’m really excited about it,” says Freeman. “Silent operas have been done before, but not like this. Not on this scale.”

^{The steps become the stage in The Eighth Wonder, photo © Prudence Upton}