The Northern Rivers Times
October 26, 2023
32 ENTERTAINMENT
After a 4 year wait, she’s finally here ‘OCDiva’ Comes to Lismore A new opera by Eve Klein | Libretto by Yasmin Arkinstall/Sharna Galvin/Sarah Penicka-Smith
Think you don’t like opera? Think again
a disability, and made the artist’s ability to choose a ground-breaking structural element of the work.’ But tailoring the opera is not just about what the audience sees; it’s been a theme running through the project from the start. The creative team has worked to ensure that there is true representation of Arkinstall’s lived experience in the music and libretto. And on a more practical level, rehearsals and recording sessions remained flexible in a bid to reduce feelings of overwhelm or triggering. ‘This has allowed me to put forward my best self artistically,’ says based artist Olivia Arkinstall. Watkins. ‘OCDiva’ The opera’s all-female, is a production of all Australian, creative Penicka-Smith Arts & team, many of whom Event Management; the have lived experience show’s Producer Melanie of chronic illness or Penicka-Smith is the disability, challenge final critical part of the ideas of what opera original development can be, how it can be team and creative team. presented, and who Arkinstall, a long-term can participate. With ambassador for The Arkinstall as the sole Smith Family and a performer, ‘OCDiva’ mental health advocate, features a sumptuous and is keen for this unusual eclectic new score by opera to reach a wide award-winning composer audience. ’I’m hopeful and sound artist Dr Eve that this musical work LIVE EVENTS STAGED AT 900 SEAT HISTORIC HERITAGE THEATRE WITH WONDERFUL ACOUSTICS, AIR CONDITIONING, COMFORTABLE SEATING AND SUPERB LINE OF SIGHT Klein, setting a libretto will make audience THE SOWETO AN co-written by Arkinstall, members feel less THE SHOWING... GOSPELNOW DAMI AFTERNOON IM TENORI THEROBERTSON SOWETO AN Sarah Penicka-Smith, alone if they have a THE BROTHERS CHOIR AT THE PROMS McCLYMONTS TENORI ERTSON and theatre director mental illness, and even •GOSPEL Dumb Money (MA15+) DAMI • IM Paw Patrol:AFTERNOON The Mighty McCLYMONTS Sharna Galvin, who Movie (PG) encourage people to THERS AT THE PROMS • CHOIR Five Nights at Freddy’s (M) was also part of the seek help for their own • Killers of the Flower show’s original project struggles. I feel this Moon (M) development team. story is especially timely • TAYLOR SWIFT | what with the pandemic Movement Direction THE ERAS TOUR (M) we’ve all had to endure is by celebrated dancer • The SATURDAY Exorcist: Believer SATURDAY and choreographer Jana SATURDAY SUNDAY THURSDAY FRIDAYand the prevalence of 20TH JULY 2019 27TH 3RD AUGUST 2019 27TH OCTOBER 2019 31ST OCTOBER 2019 22ND NOVEMBER 2019 disorders in the (MA 15+)JULY 2019 anxiety Castillo, and Design is Tickets on Sale Now. Tickets on Sale Now. Tickets on Sale Now. Tickets on Sale Now. Tickets on Sale Now. Tickets on Sale Now. community.’ by emerging BrisbaneFresh from featuring in British comedian Bill Bailey’s 2023 tour, Yasmin Arkinstall returns to the stage in ‘OCDiva’, a new autobiographical opera about one woman’s struggle to do life, art and mental health. Following a sell-out preview performance at the Arts and Cultural Exchange Parramatta, a regional tour to Wagga Wagga and Narrandera, and shows in Lawson and Blackheath, audiences are raving about ‘OCDiva’ and its star, Yasmin Arkinstall. Described by one audience member as ‘quirky, worthy, moving, silly, joyful, ‘OCDiva’, this new opera, plays in Lismore in November. This will be your last chance to see OCDiva in 2023. The twenty-somethingyear-old opera singer, TikTok dancer and Western Sydney girl has her life turned upsidedown by her search for
diagnosis and treatment for sensorimotor OCD. Combining R&B, a dash of music theatre, a TikTok dance, and a whole lot of delicious, defiant, and occasionally heartbreaking opera, ‘OCDiva’ follows Arkinstall on her journey through various therapies and therapists. Arkinstall says, ’To share my lived experience of how OCD has affected my life through song is a dream come true to me. I feel like I am merging two of my biggest life goals: to perform on stage, and to spread true awareness about a condition that has debilitated me since I was a child.’ ‘This project means the world to me, especially as an artist with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder because it’s a condition that is often misrepresented and at times mocked in the media. OCD was listed in the top
10 most disabling conditions by The World Health Organisation and yet there is little representation of it being a serious anxiety disorder that can leave sufferers housebound, jobless and even suicidal.’ Conceived in 2019, and awarded an Australia Council grant in 2020 to commission Dr Eve Klein’s composition of the score, ‘OCDiva’ has been in development for nearly five years. The opera is technology-enabled to allow Arkinstall, who lives with significant disability, full control of each performance, including what she sings, and when. According to Music Director Sarah PenickaSmith, who conceived the project after seeing Arkinstall in an audition, ‘the creative team has created a work which leans into the uncertainties of, and risks in, performing with
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We have an amazing line up of shows coming to the Saraton.
THE AFTERNOON AT THE POPS: THE MUSICALS OF BROADWAY Sunday October 29, 2023 @ 2.00pm ANH DO: THE HAPPIEST REFUGEE Thursday November 9, 2023 @ 7.30pm
MANPOWER AUSTRALIA Wednesday February 7, 2024 @ 7.30pm RUNNING IN THE SHADOWS OF FLEETWOOD MAC Friday May 17, 2024 @ 8.00pm
TOM GLEESON: GEAR Saturday November 25, 2023 @ 7.00pm
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‘OCDiva’ premiered at the Arts & Cultural Exchange in Parramatta and toured to Wagga Wagga and Narrandera. It’s now set to tour to the Blue Mountains, and the Northern Rivers. This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council for the Arts, its arts funding and advisory body. All performances conclude with a Q&A with the Creative Team (not all Creative Team members will attend all shows). Running time: approximately 60 mins, plus up to 30 minutes’ Q&A. Content Warning: ‘OCDiva’ contains themes relating to mental health and ableism. ‘OCDiva’ may not be suitable for children aged 12 and under.
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