Opera in a Days Bay Garden to Perform ‘Agrippina’

Neither seating nor picnic spots are fought over at Opera in a Days Bay Garden, for the event feels at home amongst the beech trees. And so then does the audience.

Welcomed through the gate of Canna House, the garden has the glisten of your wine in hand, preempting the music to come.

Glisten the music does. With the musical direction of Howard Moody the Baroque melodies float through the trees – the singers competing with the tui.

Handel’s ‘Agrippina’ will be Days Bay Opera’s 9th production. And while the performances have blossomed over the years, the welcoming philosophy has remained as steady as the light through the trees.

Laughter may be the only sound that seems foreign to the garden, but the operas are hysterical. With the libretto all performed in English, Opera in a Days Bay Garden avoids the facile laughter produced in the dull light of overhead subtitles. The jokes are with the audience: genuine, shocking.

During the intermission, the sound of violins and countertenors are replaced by the gentle pop of champagne corks, the licking of fingers and the unwrapping of sandwiches as the audience dines under the dappled shade of the garden. Dusk light fading.

As Act 2 begins, the stage is relit with large production lights. The performance deepens, the music more dramatic, but the birds are unfazed.

Drawing out of the gate and down to the beach of Days Bay, you won’t notice the grass stain on your elbow. It wasn’t your best shirt anyway.

ENDS

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