Celebrating the art of the stagehand

Opera Australia will reveal how stage magic happens in an upcoming performance of La Traviata.
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Opera Australia’s La Traviata; photo by Keith Saunders.

Sydney audiences will be given a rare opportunity to watch backstage magic happen on Tuesday 21 March, when Opera Australia leaves the curtains open during the four-minute scene change between scenes 1 and 2 of Act II of La Traviata.  

Previously in the history of the production, originally directed by Elijah Moshinsky, the curtain has always been closed and the audience literally left in the dark after the emotionally wrenching ‘country garden scene’ until the curtains rise on the next scene, in which the autumnal garden has been replaced by a lavish parlour and some 20 performers.

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Richard Watts is ArtsHub's National Performing Arts Editor; he also presents the weekly program SmartArts on Three Triple R FM, and serves as the Chair of La Mama Theatre's volunteer Committee of Management. Richard is a life member of the Melbourne Queer Film Festival, and was awarded the status of Melbourne Fringe Living Legend in 2017. In 2020 he was awarded the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards' Facilitator's Prize. Most recently, Richard was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Green Room Awards Association in June 2021. Follow him on Twitter: @richardthewatts