Serge Verstockt . ChampdAction

At the 'Place de l'Opera de Trash' there is a clash between virtual and real space, act and entr'acte, and fictional and factual identity. Voices, sounds, noises, cries, orders, murmuring and singing all emerge from the noise of technology and ecology, dictatorship and democracy. This is the starting point of 'Hold your Horses', the brutal confrontation with a fragmented world that hovers between real and virtual. Assemblages of nature and culture flirt with divas and avatars in the setting of the libretto, freely adapted from the '198 Methods of Nonviolent Action' by Gene Sharp. 'A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!' exclaims King Richard III despairingly. 'Kifaya' (Enough!) is the provisional response of the Arab spring, spread by mobile phone recordings. Great heroes and stories end tragically in flash news, while the ordinary man assembles himself as a hero in his DIY and adores virtual stars. The moral of the story? Vulnerability prevails when the antagonisms of life break down the art of the code in opera. ChampdAction's 'Grand Opera' is doomed to become an 'Opera de Trash'