Mozart with meatballs, in an Ikea: how opera is facing its existential crisis

Mozart with meatballs, in an Ikea: how opera is facing its existential crisis In an attempt to find new audiences and save money, opera companies are ‘throwing spaghetti at the wall’ to see what sticks. It often works I t’s Sunday and I’m in a suburban Ikea on the verge of tears. Perhaps this is not so surprising – who among us hasn’t approached emotional breakdown navigating the labyrinthine homewares store? But these are tears of joy. And no, it’s not because I’ve nabbed one of the cult-status Djungelskog plushies ; it’s because of the five people singing at me from two metres away. I’m in the outdoor plants and furniture section, watching The Marriage of Figaro – or a version of it, in which Figaro and his bride-to-be, Susanna, work in floor sales and their philandering boss is the store manager. It’s probably the last place I’d expect to discover the sublime beauty of Mozart’s opera. Half an hour earlier, my fellow audience members and I – who were emailed the secret location 24 hours earlier – were eating meatballs and mash in the canteen. This is Secret Opera , a project by West Australian Opera that brings canonical and rare works to unusual places, including, in the past, an abandoned theatre and a prison. The night before, I saw Philip Glass’s take on Franz Kafka’s absurdist, nightmarish novel The Trial , performed in a former Flight Centre office in a shopping mall – the latest project by Lost and Found Opera . Both were part of this year’s Perth festival, which under its artistic director, Anna Reece, is continuing to use the city’s existing and abandoned spaces in creative ways . Secret Opera and The Trial are part of a broader shift in opera worldwide towards non-traditional venues – think Wagner in a Detroit parking garage ; Shostakovich in a Manchester nightclub . In recent years, Opera Australia has staged Puccini’s one-act opera Il Tabarro on a century-old lightship in Sydney Harbour, Bizet’s Carmen in the former industrial precinct of Cockatoo Isla...