KILDARE ARTS SCENE: Experience world’s first VR community opera

The Riverbank Arts Centre in Newbridge is getting ready to welcome a show with a difference.

The Virtual Reality Opera Experience Out of the Ordinary/As an nGnách is coming to the venue on Tuesday, November 7.

Irish National Opera have created a show where audience members get to experience the world’s first virtual reality community opera.

During this immersive experience, which takes place over 30 minutes, audience members wear a Virtual Reality headset and are transported to an imagined fantasy reality which tells the tale of a community forced to flee their barren homeland, which, due to their own actions, can no longer sustain them.

The audience follows Nalva, the main character, as she 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?

Written by composer Finola Merivale and librettist Jody O’Neill working with director Jo Mangan and students from rural Ireland and communities from Inis Meáin, Tallaght and South Dublin.

Out of the Ordinary / As an nGnách will take place at Riverbank Arts Centre on Tuesday 7 November at 5pm, 6pm, 7pm and 8pm.

Tickets are €5 and can be booked through the Box Office or by telephone on 045 448327 Monday to Friday 9.30am-5pm (closed for lunch 2-2.30) and Saturday 10am-1pm. Tickets can also be booked on www.riverbank.ie