Out of the Ordinary / As an nGnách

Venue: Town Hall (Upstairs)

Ages: 14+

Out of the Ordinary/As an nGnách is a virtual reality performance brought to us by Irish National Opera. It is an exciting new bi-lingual (Irish & English) virtual reality community opera which was developed for and with people living across Ireland.

It tells the tale of a community forced to flee their barren homeland, which, due to their own actions, can no longer sustain them. Nalva, our main character, builds a boat to take her people on an epic journey to find a new home.

But as they begin their voyage, they don’t realise they are being pursued. Daol, a powerful force of nature, furious at being released from the leached soil, churns up the seas and causes a huge storm, plunging the boat underwater.

When Nalva and her people eventually resurface, they find themselves at a new and unfamiliar land. Can they make a home here? Will they learn to live in harmony with nature, or will they repeat the mistakes of the past? And will the destructive energy of Daol find peace, or will she continue to wreak havoc? It’s all to play for. Why not climb aboard?

The event will take place in the Town Hall. Audience members each receive a virtual reality headset. The duration of the screening is 20 minutes.

Please note this is not suitable for children under 14 years.

What is a VR Opera and What to Expect?

When people think of VR, a lot of the time, they think of computer games for teenagers, but VR can be for everyone! A Virtual Reality or VR Opera is an immersive experience where you put on a headset which places you inside the virtual world of the opera, rather than viewing the opera on a screen in front of you. It puts you at the centre of a 360-degree rich sensory experience. Our VR opera does not try to recreate the world around us but will bring you to an imagined world, realised through animation, creating a truly unique opera experience where you will have the ability to move around and interact with the environment. Our VR Opera will re-imagine what opera can be for a new digital age.

User Considerations

Due to the nature of VR, this experience will be unsuitable for audience members who:

• are under 14
• are pregnant
• are prone to seizures, fits or epilepsy
• are fitted with a pacemaker
• are under the influence of drugs or alcohol
• have a serious medical condition that affects their balance or vision

Created through a series of online and in-person workshops, the opera explores new methods of co-creation, placing our communities at the centre of the opera creation process. Our professional creative team has worked alongside participants living across Ireland, learning from each other, developing the composition, narrative and design through ongoing conversation and collaboration throughout 2021 and 2022.

The process has allowed us to explore a different way of making work, and we can now offer audiences the chance to experience opera as it has never been experienced before. Presented in virtual reality, we hope the work will start conversations around opera, technology and art, who it’s for and what it can be.

More information:

http://outoftheordinary.irishn...