Reich of Ran
Summary
Reich of Ran was a dense, prototype opera for turn-based visitor interaction in an immersive setting. In the project, we explored how basic verbal visitor interaction could be imbricated in the operatic composition, which also contained a number of forked paths.
Supported by
Kultur i Halland, Halmstads kommun, Statens Kulturråd, HFAB
Mattias Petersson (composer), Agnes Wästfelt (actor), Anna W. Thorbjörnsson and Marko T. Wramén (videoprojections), Petra Hjortsberg (costume)
Description of project
One of my research questions is how ludo-immersive opera can be understood and interpreted. Reich of Ran was conceived as an etude of how to design comprehensible rules for playing visitors. This developed into a turn-based ’micro opera’ with forked paths. Each visitor got to experience the opera alone with the opera character (played by me) and a live-electronic musician. Thus, there could be no sense of being watched and evaluated by non-active players (voyeurs). Since the ludic concept aimed to be as basic as could be, I decided that the challenge was to offer a problem with opacity. This opacity was manifested in the language of the characters, as an artistic expression concealing clues of what to do and why to succeed. The verbal content of the communication was given different audial expressions without altering either the character or the message. The visitors displayed a ‘lusory attitude’ to different extent, as some acted as fictional characters with manners that corresponded to the opera singer’s character and the setting. The balance between easy participation and the challenge of non-naturalistic interaction became evident through the project.
Please see more info in the attached PDF.
Type of work
Opera
Published in
Halmstad, Sweden
Other description
Reich of Ran became the world’s shortest opera, with a premiere performed in 2 minutes and 18 seconds. It was performed 43 times 29–30 September 2018 in Halmstad, where the setting was built up in an empty shop.
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Date
2018-09-29Creator
Jalhed, Hedvig
Keywords
Opera
Immersion
Interaction
Play
Publication type
artistic work