If you had asked whether I could ever imagine myself in the audience of an opera, I’d have said yes – only in a dream. Last weekend, that dream became reality as I sat in Moscow’s Bolshoi Theatre, waiting for the opening act of The Queen of Spades, an opera by the renowned Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Ahead of the show, our hosts politely reminded us to observe the dress code. For men: A classic dark, solid-coloured suit; a crisp white shirt; a vibrant bow tie or preferably, a tie of proper length and classic Oxford or Derby shoes.
Being someone who respects local customs and traditions, I came prepared – though it took a few minutes on Google to realise that I already owned a pair of Oxford lookalikes. I also comforted myself with the thought that I, too, have asked visitors to Butiama to observe the dress code when attending performances of the traditional Sukuma snake dance. For a small-scale sunflower farmer from Butiama, all this felt completely foreign. The only “Opera” I had heard of before was the host of a U.S.-based talk show. I knew of the Bolshoi only vaguely and had no idea how to make sense of a theatrical performance sung in classical music – music I admit to enjoying occasionally – but in a language that half the audience might not understand.
Despite my handicap, I soon learned that I was sitting in a theatre steeped in history. Though it has undergone additions and renovations over the years, the current Bolshoi Theatre dates back to 1824. Remarkably, when the USSR was proclaimed in 1922, it was done at the Bolshoi. I was fortunate to sit next to a South African visitor who had far more experience with opera than I did and who waited eagerly for the performance to begin. I hoped she might help me interpret the plot. In my simplest understanding, opera is storytelling through music and dance – a universal experience shared by most cultures. At the Bolshoi, the music and dance might have been unfamiliar – nothing like the Sindimba, Lizombe, or Msondo I know – but, I told myself, anyone can interpret a story. I was wrong. After the show, when I compared notes with my South African neighbour, she had a completely different interpretation from mine. Thanks to Google, I later realised that I may have been partly right: The story depicts a man who falls in love with a woman but is too poor to marry her. Despite our conflicting interpretations, opera offers a uniquely vibrant blend of music, dance, costume and spectacle that stirs the imagination.
