When The Music And The

When I Was 24 I Went To Nigeria And It Was Such A Culture Shock, Growing Up In Australia And Suddenly Being The Only White Man In This Unit Full Of Black Men.

I Thought, This Is Fabulous. It Sent Shivers Up My Spine. I Thought, What Kinds Of People Are These That Would Produce This Kind Of Music In A Camp? All The Prison Camp Stories I've Seen, And Heard Of, Were About The Heroism Of Men. As I Researched This And Heard The Music, I Realized That Women Were Heroic Too, On Just As Grand A Scale. And Their Treatment Was Just As Appalling.

In Opera, Everyone's Watching From A Fixed Viewpoint, And That Really Challenges You. Lighting, The Sets, Stage Groupings, The Music-but Doesn't Relate Too Much To Film.

In Australia, They Set Up A Special Fund To Kick Films Off. It Was Quite An Enlightened Sort Of Move. You Could Go To This Government Bureau With Scripts And And Get Finance For Films.

When The Music And The Characters Are Flawlessly Synchronized, The Opera Develops An Emotional Force That Movies And Plays Cannot Match.