Whispers: Echoes from the Halls (review)
A Hauntingly Intimate Opera Experience from the Boston Opera Collaborative
Boston Opera Collaborative (BOC) once again pushes the boundaries of traditional opera with Whispers: Echoes from the Halls, their 45-minute immersive horror piece set in Boston’s historic Shirley-Eustis House. This unique promenade experience invites everyone — opera enthusiasts and newcomers alike — to explore themes of love, betrayal, and murder through an innovative fusion of opera, immersive theater, and a healthy dose of the supernatural.
This playful approach is super on-brand for BOC. Back when it was founded in 2006, the group realized three things. First, permanent venues are expensive; they were better off looking for adaptable spaces. This strategy quickly became a BOC trademark. Last fall’s The Lives They Lived was set in Jamaica Plain’s Forrest Hills Cemetery and the upcoming Room&Board & Opera will take place in the Newbury Street furniture store Room&Board.
Next, they noticed that the gap between opera and the general public was widening. In response, BOC started creating shorter, more accessible operas with low ticket prices that might attract a more diverse audience. Finally, they realized that talented emerging performers often lacked the vocal power to fill large spaces like The Metropolitan Opera House. This sparked a company-defining philosophy: staging intimate operas in alternative settings could fast-track newcomers’ comfort levels with the art form while encouraging burgeoning performers, producers, and designers come together and experiment with an otherwise tradition-born genre. Alexis Peart, BOC’s Executive Producer, captured this ethos perfectly during a conversation between performances: “I’m a big proponent of opera as play.”
Whispers: Echoes from the Halls wasn’t just playful. It was a technical marvel, harnessing the venue’s eerie ambiance with a minimalist design that embraced unsettling colonial aesthetics, dramatic lighting, and strategically placed doorways that allowed performers to melt in and out of rooms. The performances were mind-blowing, thanks to a combination of talent and acoustics.
I’m not sure Whispers was a horror story so much as a ghoulish little tragedy. From an immersive point of view, I noticed many audience members who seemed uncertain of their role, even after an informative introduction to both immersive and opera norms from BOC. The uncertainty likely arose from the tension between Whispers’ immersive staging and the fact that the audience was never asked to show up as anything other than traditional spectators. While this aspect could be refined, it didn’t detract significantly from my overall experience.
BOC approaches immersive as one of the many tools at its disposal to bring opera to the public. Ultimately, I’m happy to see other genre’s embracing immersive to expand their reach and impact. Final verdict? Whispers was a wonderful entre to spooky season — and opera.
Whispers: Echoes from the Halls — Boston Opera Collaborative $15 — $25; Boston, MA; Run Concluded (10/7–8/2023)
Leah Davis is a writer & editor at No Proscenium.
