FATAL SYSTEM ERROR (8bit/Royal Opera)****

 

 By Louise

Link: https://playcanv.as/p/A5qC9ftM/?overlay=false 

Available until: 30^th May 2021

I really like the Royal Opera’s 8bit series. They have really pushed the boundaries and tried to do things which are different and not usually something you see on the opera stage, but the works they’re producing still feel like opera.

Fatal System Error is an interactive opera about a virtual assistant that you have decided to delete. You have to click or tap the delete icon and then the deletion begins. A lot of adverts appear on the screen with the virtual assistant speaking or singing about them and there is also background singing where the virtual assistant is singing about being deleted and how she feels.

Brian Irvine is the composer and his music is really beautiful, especially the parts about being deleted. It is really emotional. It all sounds like they’ve put exactly the same work and commitment and investment into it as they would if they were doing a really grand production of The Ring Cycle.

I don’t think it says who wrote the lyrics, but I really like them. One of the things that surprised me the most is how typical they are for an operatic death scene. I don’t mean that they weren’t very imaginative, I think they described the process of deletion really well. But I think it shows how operatic the story is and the way death is a sort of deletion from existence. The words the virtual assistant sings suit the situation really well, but they would also work in a more typical death scene in an opera.

Alexandra Lowe from the Jette Parker Young Artist Programme plays the virtual assistant and she is really good. She has a very lyrical soprano which is perfect for the style of the music and it sounds really beautiful. I liked the way she actually didn’t look that emotional on the screen because virtual assistants usually don’t show emotion on the outside, but you can hear in Ms Lowe’s voice all the emotion the virtual assistant is feeling on the inside.

Fatal System Error is such a clever and original idea – and a really enjoyable opera too.