Opera life on and off stage at Brighton and Chichester Fringes

SussexWorld

Opera singers Samantha Houston, Bridget Hardy and Penny Rossano combine to give us a tale of life backstage before going on stage, offering a tale told by witches with music.

Transcript

00:00Good afternoon. My name is Phil Hewitt, group arts editor at Sussex Newspapers. Lovely to

00:06speak to Samantha Houston. Now you're bringing a really intriguingly named show, Destination

00:11Old Hag to the Brighton Fringe and also to Chichester Fringe. Now it's an instantly striking

00:17title, which makes perfect sense when you explain it. So do explain.

00:23Well, thank you for having me, Phil. Destination Old Hag is the tale of life backstage,

00:29before going on stage, told by witches with music. You're basically being invited to come

00:36backstage to see three ladies of the chorus. Oh, I must explain, there are only three ladies

00:41because of budgetary constraints. Yeah. So the three ladies of the chorus are getting ready

00:48for opening night of Verdi's Macbeth. In the opera, the ladies of the chorus are the witches.

00:56So you'll join us backstage as we're getting into costume and makeup and wigs. But, you

01:03know, we're just sort of three ordinary ladies who are mulling over life and mulling over

01:08whether we actually achieve the dream of being professional singers. I think opera gets a bit

01:15of a rough ride sometimes that it's a bit elitist and that not everybody's welcome. But there have

01:22been so many moves over the years to welcome in as many people as possible. And I think my show

01:28is a little bit of that. And you have done it. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Yes. Absolutely.

01:35Absolutely. Why does opera struggle? So many people will tell you that we've got to broaden

01:39it, we've got to make it accessible. Yeah, I don't know. What are the barriers?

01:44I wonder if it's, you know, it's a big thing. Maybe people think it's a bit too long. It's

01:49in a different language. It's all a bit overblown. But I would say to people, you will never experience

01:57the array of emotions that you do anywhere else than if you go to the opera, you will hear voices

02:04that just feel majestic and the, and the orchestra and the sets and the costumes and the makeup and

02:10the story. Yes, it's all overblown, but you know, you'll come out after three hours and you'll feel

02:14elated or devastated. And that's kind of what we're going to get because we get the build up,

02:18the preparation, the conversation, but we also get the start of the opera. Absolutely.

02:24As if we're watching. Well, we are watching. Yes, you are watching indeed. You will have a little

02:27bit of singing throughout the show and then you'll see us transfer magically through the magic of

02:33theatre from backstage to on stage, where we, the ladies of the chorus, open the show, as it were.

02:41And so you'll hear us singing the opening movement from Verdi's Macbeth as well. So, yeah.

02:48And you've had some lovely responses so far, haven't you?

02:50Oh, so nice. It's been brilliant.

02:52Opening people's eyes to opera and also things that we tend to think about in middle age, don't we?

02:58You know, I think if people can leave feeling like they've had a bit of a chuckle

03:02and felt a little bit for people who may not have achieved what they wanted to achieve,

03:07but then enjoyed the singing, I think with job well done.

03:10Fantastic. So it's 55 minutes and it's the Chichester Fringe on Sunday, 8th of June,

03:18at the Brighton Fringe on Saturday, May the 10th. Sam, lovely to speak to you. Thank you.

03:23And you too. Thank you so much. See you there.

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