Co-created, directed and performed with THE oPERA PROJECT INC. 

Director: Nigel Kellaway
Performers: Regina Heilmann, Nigel Kellaway, Katia Molino, Lynne Murray
Music: Richard Vella (after G.F. Handel)
Lighting Design: Simon Wise
Costume Design: Annemaree Dalziel, Nigel Kellaway

Premiered: 22nd May 2001 at Performance Space, Sydney

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El Inocente (developed in 2000 and produced in 2001) considers the heritage of Baroque humanist thought in collision with contemporary South American story-telling.

“El Inocente” is compelling – perhaps the most refined and well developed theatre I have seen from The opera Project – and leaves the listener with nagging questions rather than dawning realisations. Why this story? Why Handel? Is this the embodiment of theatre or its dissection?… non-essentials have been discarded and trimmed to something that maintains a consistent level of theatrical interest. The narrative styles shift effectively from a quasi-newsreading style to, by turns, the fairytale, the cinematic and the mythic world of Baroque opera.
The cast of four realise this with self-effacing commitment and a finely balanced sense of theatrical pace and contrast. A satisfying aspect of The opera Project is its artistic parsimony. With simple objects – white masks, red wine, black cloth and red roses – it creates stronger artistic statements than some productions on 10 times the budget. Always, it leaves me with the same questions. Are we experiencing music theatre or analysing it? Are we creating theatrical magic or deconstructing it? Is this shamanism or anthropology? Is the truth revealed or the truth unmasked?

Peter McCallum, Sydney Morning Herald,
May 7, 2001
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A triumphant march across the glorious and decadant freeway that is Baroque opera, driven by all the perversity and determination of a South American road movie.

A triumph of contemporary operatic theatre.

Jane Rankin-Reid, The Australian, June 25, 2001
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El Inocente is the result of a two year development process by The opera Project’s impressive lineup of experienced artists, exploring contemporary theatrical spectacle in relationship to the opera of the Baroque period (1600 – 1750). Although one of its emphasis is on the musical shape of a ‘baroque’ work, it in no way endeavours to reconstruct a Baroque opera, in form or content.

The idea of ‘facade’ concerns us in this work – in which less attention is paid to a ‘story revealed’, but more to the task of ‘enactment’ as an aesthetic experience in itself. Our task is to draw attention to the discrete components that make up the performative act, eschewing the illusion of ‘reality’ or (more accurately) ‘totality’ that has been a concern of much of western theatre since the Renaissance.

Like the dramaturgy, the music collides many styles and genres as one would find in opera or feature film. It has its genesis in specific Handel operatic arias, but now the original music by Richard Vella interacts, complements, ignores or collides with Handel’s music creating a complex musical web. We are simultaneously experiencing a Baroque opera based on Handel’s music and a more contemporary approach to music theatre making.

In a certain sense, the music is similar to that found in a road movie. It is neither pastiche nor parody, but is multi-referential – placing the listener into strangely familiar contexts, enabling the work to have multiple layers for interpretation.