My Life Online is an incredibly well performed piece of modern opera, with an unfortunately lacklustre story. We see Kay, played by Sarah Minns, navigating a post-Covid world where she hasn’t left her apartment in a year. She Skypes, shops, has therapy and works out all from the comfort of her home. The issue is that for 95% of the show, this lifestyle is all the plot we get. Until a splash of excitement is added at the end there is very little to keep us hooked. The day is predictable, which in all fairness is somewhat the point, however it means you leave wondering what the reason for a large portion of the show was.
The audience for this production is so specific it’s hard to know who it was actually for
The opera itself is interesting and it is a form of performance that is rarely seen in completely new productions. The music was very well performed and Sarah Minns did an exceptional job keeping her stamina in a one woman opera for the entire hour. Her vocals were flawless and there was no sign of fatigue even towards the end of the show. For a comedy show, however, a lot of the jokes fell flat. It is hard to tell how much this has to do with delivery, but it’s fair to say that part of the problem is definitely the medium the comedy was delivered in. It being an opera made it very hard to fully deliver on a key element of comedy; timing.
This opera does show promise and it is certainly exciting to see such an uncommon art form being brought into the modern age. As we watched Kay attempt to escape both the physical and psychological walls keeping her inside, it was possible to see what the show was trying to say. However, the audience for this production is so specific it’s hard to know who it was actually for.
