OA’s Carmen director Liesel Badorrek: ‘I am offended by us trotting out the murder of a woman as entertainment’

Liesel Badorrek, who is directing a daring new production of Carmen for Opera Australia, says a lot of opera “is misogynistic” and “most of the stories are no good”.

Director Liesel Badorrek: ‘There’s a global conversation about the misogyny of opera and that is a valid conversation because it is misogynistic. Most of the stories are no good.’ Photo: Don Arnold

Liesel Badorrek is the director and cabaret artist behind Opera Australia’s daring new production of Carmen on Sydney’s Cockatoo Island. Here she talks about the misogyny of opera, revisiting unacceptable storylines and being in a cabaret collective of six “ragtag crazy birds”.

You’ve made a few changes to Carmen to challenge its violence against women. Will purists be upset?
They might be. And if they are, I have no time for that. It’s a story about a man who murders a woman and I’m not okay in 2022 with us all applauding that unquestioningly. I find that grotesquely unacceptable. If people come and feel offended by what I’ve done to it, then I would say I am offended by us trotting out the murder of a woman as entertainment.

You’re using motorbikes in your staging of a 19th century opera. Are you a bit of a revhead?
I’m actually not strangely, although I come from a household of boys who ride motorbikes. I do love the idea of bucking tradition. Carmen is set in all manner of places that are slightly Spanish but for me it wasn’t a story about being Spanish at all. So we set it in this rock context and motorbikes work really well in that kind of rock’n’roll space. If people are worried about not hearing the beautiful music because of the motorbikes – the motorbikes are only in really big thumping parts of the score. It will be like another unique instrument in the orchestra.

Carmen on Cockatoo Island. Picture: Hamilton Lund

Your production comes at an interesting time for OA with artistic director Lyndon Terracini having stepped down last month. Has this resulted in any changes to your production?
We were actually going to make this two years ago and then last year, but both times things got in the way, namely that pesky germ. There was already a lot of work in place – artistically and practically. When Lyndon left, he gave me the job for which I thank him. I think that was a real show of faith in me and a timely choice to have a woman direct this production. I think it possibly would have been remiss to have a male director for this production at this time in history.

Can you elaborate ...
There’s a global conversation about the misogyny of opera and that is a valid conversation because it is misogynistic. Most of the stories are no good. How can we rescue this art form given that the storytelling is kind of unacceptable? It’s a bit like Shakespeare. The stories are not what’s great about opera, it’s the music – just like Shakespeare’s poetry is what makes his work great. So I’m all for reimagining the stories. I’d be for completely repurposing stuff. I would like to see the music survive because it’s magnificent. I think that it takes a woman at this point to understand how much the character of Carmen has been both fetishised and demonised and how I just wanted to take all that rhetoric, all that language away from it. For example, I know that there are some probably male directors who have felt very strongly about the world Carmen lives in – but I don’t want to see that on stage. I just think it romanticises that world. The more we see things depicted culturally, the more they are normalised for us.

Carmen is taking place on an island, which obviously presents a few logistical challenges. What happens if you leave something back at home?
It’s a logistical nightmare and if you leave something no one can just zip back or call an Uber and quickly run back and get it. We’ve got barges and boats specifically secured for OA so we don’t have to wait for the public ferry, but it is (tricky).

You’re part of an all-female cabaret collective called 6 Quick Chicks with Christa Hughes …She’s a mate of mine and she’s in it along with her sister Vashti Hughes and a bunch of other ragtag crazy birds who are just super talented and super fun to work with. Working with that crew gives you license to be bold on stage. As everyone sort of ages, it’s that sort of getting up and doing it (performing) and not apologising for ageing. And just doing wild cabaret work anyway. I love to be part of it. And I love to see all those women who are all my good friends also doing it.

Opera Australia’s first opera on Cockatoo Island, Carmen, is showing November 25 to December 18.