Chamber Pot Opera
Sydney, Adelaide, Edinburgh, Saint Petersburg, 2016 to 2019
A site-specific opera performed in a public bathroom, in which three women meet for the first time.
The story was about three women meeting for the first time in a public bathroom. One was in an abusive relationship, one feared she had come on too strong on a date, and one had just been promoted to her dream job. Together they sang of their histories and hopes through music from the operas of Puccini, Mozart and Bizet, using the whole room, from the sinks and mirrors to the hand dryers and stalls.
Chamber Pot Opera began in the Level 2 Ladies’ Powder Room at the Queen Victoria Building in Sydney in 2016. It went on to the Adelaide Fringe and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2017, Saint Petersburg in 2018, and played its final season in the Playhouse Ladies’ Bathroom at the Sydney Opera House in 2019.
More than 10,000 people across the world have seen it.
Co-Creators: Keiren Brandt-Sawdy, Thomas De Angelis, Clemence Williams. Director: Clemence Williams. Cast: Sally Alrich-Smythe, Britt Lewis, Jessica Westcott. Music Director: Keiren Brandt-Sawdy. Accompanist: Darci Gayford.
Photographs: John Marmaras.