Eugene Onegin (Co-Opera) and Orpheus Underground (Various People)

Co-Opera’s Eugene Onegin (★★★1/2) and Various People’s Orpheus Underground (★★★★★), both of which played in Adelaide in early May, provided a study in contrasts. Tchaikovsky’s great opera (first performed in 1879) has toured to the eastern states and country South Australia, an ambitious undertaking even with a relatively small chorus and orchestra. In Adelaide, the performances took place at the Thomas Edmonds Opera Studio, a pavilion at the Adelaide Showgrounds, which has the advantage, and disadvantage, of being basically a large empty space – highly adaptable, but lacking in both atmosphere and facilities such as an orchestra pit. The large audience, with BYO picnic suppers, sat at tables in rows at right angles to the stage, so that few people sat directly facing the performers.