What is the message of Vixen?

Burns: Vixen is about the cycle of life, the human experience and the concept that with death, there is new life. Ultimately, it is about survival and the optimism to fight for it. Even if you don’t win that fight for survival, it’s not necessarily a bad thing, because everything carries on and everything is transient anyway.

How is this production different from the original?

Burns: We’ve pulled it apart completely and rebuilt it. We’ve taken it out of its original forest setting and added a much more human experience to it. As the audience shares [the same space as that of the characters], they will be much more involved with that human experience than they would otherwise be.

We’ve also written a new libretto. There are no animals like in the original. We’ve kept the character names and the music, and that’s it. Even the music has been changed. With ours, there are a lot of electronics and technology. A lot of it has been re-composed and reworked. There is some orchestral music knitted in there, along with some electronic music, live instruments and vocal effects. There’s a whole wave of different things to turn it into a completely different experience.

Why electronic music?

Ip: This is the decision of the original music director [Daisy Evans], but I believe the concept behind it is that we want to relate this opera to our modern lives, not only through the modern settings of the story but also [through the way it’s presented]. We hope to bring in new audiences who may have certain impressions of operas being an old concept.

Burns: We can’t take a full orchestra with us. So silent opera was also a way for us to still bring that sound and feeling to people. We discovered that by doing it with headphones, like a silent disco, we could still bring all of that orchestral sound directly to the listener while opening up a whole new world of possibilities.

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Do you think immersive operas can attract a wider, more diverse audience?

Burns: Our audiences are of different ages and are quite diverse. We staged Vixen in Italy a few years ago and we had a very traditional opera audience who turned up in dresses and pearls. They just sat on the floor and they absolutely loved it because it was completely out of the ordinary. It was just something so refreshing for them.

What do you have to consider when staging this production at Tai Kwun?

Burns: This is the first time we’re doing it outdoors. Our neighbours are a concern because this is a residential area. We must think in terms of the amount of noise that we make, although we don’t seem to have had any complaints yet, so that’s good. Previously, we’ve done it in tunnels, at railway stations, in a mountain tram depo and a warehouse in the middle of Beijing. The show can be fitted into any large space, and we adapt the production by changing the ground plan of it [so] the audience can go and where our set moves.

Are there regional differences for Vixen?

Burns: Previously, wherever we’ve done it, it’s always been set in London. With this production, we’re setting it in Hong Kong and we have a local cast. We adapted some of the libretto. We’ve added words and references to supermarkets and local elements that people here can understand and relate to.

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As an actor, how do you find immersive operas different from your other theatre experiences?

Yau: It’s a lot different from doing an onstage opera because there’s a lot more freedom in what I can do—and I really like this. Because we’re wearing microphones, I don’t have to worry about projecting my voice over the orchestra. I can even whisper some of the phrases, so there’s a lot more freedom in the way I use my voice, the emotional states I can employ and the more subtle, natural gestures that I can make as opposed to dramatic actions. Here I’m going to do more real-life reactions. It feels a lot more realistic and at the same time liberating for me as a performer.

Is silent opera something you’d like to continue working on in the future?

Yau: I really think that this is the future of opera. We can introduce different elements into a very traditional art form, which, most of the time, is not very relatable to modern, young audiences. I know my friends will love it. In the past, they have gone to other traditional productions that I was in, and they’ve said that they didn’t get any of it even though we had surtitles. This time I’ll be so close to the audience and I’ll be singing in colloquial English. I’m excited to see an opera without all the traditional barriers.

From March 11 to 18. Tai Kwun, Central. Find out more at hk.artsfestival.org

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