Delea Shand on combining video games and opera: ‘Mozart meets Mario’
With her music/gaming mash-up for kids, Delea Shand wants to break down the barriers that surround opera. Robyn Bell finds out how interactive adventure Madame Chandelier’s Grand Theft Opera is deploying action and arias to entertain the whole family
Opera and video games might seem like worlds apart, but for Canadian soprano and comedian Delea Shand, the two have far more in common than you might think. Returning to the Fringe as her wonderfully eccentric alter ego Madame Chandelier, Shand is inviting audiences to step into a world where ‘Mozart meets Mario’. Madame Chandelier’s Grand Theft Opera mixes operatic heroes, video game quests and audience participation into a family adventure unlike any other.
For over a decade, Shand has been using Madame Chandelier to make opera feel accessible to audiences of all ages. Through a blend of comedy, cabaret and audience participation, she’s transformed an artform often seen as intimidating into something playful, welcoming and interactive. In Grand Theft Opera, audiences aren’t just spectators, they’re players.
Drawing inspiration from Mozart’s The Magic Flute, the show follows Madame Chandelier after her teenage daughter is sucked into a video game by the villainous Queen Of The Night. To rescue her child, she must enter the game herself, taking on legendary opera heroines including Carmen, Tosca and Madame Butterfly before facing the game’s ultimate boss battle. Audiences who saw Madame Chandelier’s Opera Party For Kids may recognise some of the characters, but Grand Theft Opera tells an entirely new story. ‘My previous show was really an introduction to opera,’ Shand says. ‘This one has some of the same characters come back but they are doing something completely different.’
The story unfolds much like a player progressing through increasingly challenging game levels and is Shand’s most interactive production yet. ‘All of my shows have had audience participation before, but this show is the most interactive. I use it as a way of drawing people into opera and breaking down the barriers.’
Audience members are invited to take on roles within the game itself, such as an NPC (non-playable character eg narrator, quest giver or even shopkeeper) helping guide Madame Chandelier throughout her quest, while others assist in powering up characters or taking part in a series of mini games. Despite its unmistakable video game-inspired premise, Shand admits she wasn’t always immersed in that world. Before creating the show, she knew very little about computer games beyond encouraging her own children to switch them off. ‘My son is really into video games,’ she laughs. ‘And we ended up playing lots together while I was making the show.’
Those sessions soon revealed surprising similarities between two worlds which at first glance appear to be complete opposites. ‘The more I worked on it, the more I realised there was loads of crossover,’ says Shand. ‘There are weird epic plots, dramatic death scenes and these huge quests. If there’s one thing that’s longer than opera, it’s probably video games!’
Rather than treating opera as something that needs explaining, Shand lets audiences experience it naturally and discover just how entertaining the artform can be. Familiar opera songs have been rewritten in English to fit the new story, allowing children and parents to follow the narrative without needing any prior knowledge of opera itself. ‘It’s not really an introduction to opera,’ she explains. ‘It’s just a fun show that happens to have opera in it.’ Aimed at ages five and over, Shand says it is ‘perfect for those around 9 to 12’. For those curious about the genre but unsure where to begin, Madame Chandelier’s Grand Theft Opera may prove the ideal place to press ‘start’.
Madame Chandelier’s Grand Theft Opera, Pleasance Courtyard, 5–16 August, 12.15pm; main picture: Karla Gowlett.