Opera and Steel is a live performance commissioned by Kaaitheatee in Brussels, Belgium for Performatik Performance Festival in 2017 under the direction of Katleen Van Langendonck and with dramaturgical support from Esther Severi. The production was supported by Argos Centre for Art and Media, Deutsche Botschaft Brüssel & Instituto Italiano di Cultura Bruxelles.

It was presented at Kaaistudios on 24 and 25 March 2017.

Opera and Steel is based on a conversation with a biologist who has monitored the local seabird population for oil contamination on Shetland since the oil industry descended there in the late 1970s. The performance portrays the dilemma of this man, whose love and care for birds also inadvertently makes him part of an industry that views their bodies (dead or alive) as a measure of capitalism’s efficiency. In the script, this is portrayed through an hallucination, in which the bodies of the birder and bird become increasingly indiscernible. The performance includes two dancers, an opera singer, an acrobat, live music, two steel sculptures, costumes and lighting.

Dancers: Gerard Bell, Yumiko Funaya
Singer: Olivia Salvadori
Musicians: Elio Marchesini, Iose Ravera
Acrobat: Celicia Sdrubulini

kaaitheater.be/en/agenda/opera-and-steel
kaaitheater.be/en/performatik17

Direction: Grace Schwindt; Dancer: Yumiko Funaya; Speaker: Gerard Bell; Singer: Olivia Salvadori; Musicians: Elio Marchesini, Iose Ravera; Acrobat: Celicia Sdrubulini; Dramaturgical support: Esther Severi

Commissioned by Kaaitheater, supported by Argos Center for Art and Media & Instituto Italiano di Cultura Bruxelles

https://research.gold.ac.uk/id/eprint/24168