Vocal Womb a multimedia operatic performance that explores the intersection between the body and technology.
Vocal Womb created and performed by Eve Klein is a multimedia operatic performance and installation externalizing the hidden, fleshy and deeply personal workings of the voice from inside a singer’s body.
Vocal Womb is suitable for festivals, galleries and performance venues. Vocal Womb performances consist of a 30-minute musical performance for mezzo-soprano and electronics. The work uses medical devices (laryngoscope and stethoscopes) to amplify and visualise the singer’s internal body during live performance, which are projected into the performance space. Audiences enter this darkened space and sit across from an opera singer. A medical assistant dresses the singer in stethoscopes placed on her heart, lungs and intestines. The singer inserts a laryngoscope through her nose to visualise her larynx as she sings. The audience is invited to mix the audio to refashion their acoustic experience of the work via a control unit. An electroacoustic opera has been composed for Vocal Womb performances, providing a musical structure for the audience’s remixing experience and showcases the range of human vocality through the application of extended-vocal techniques.
Outside performance times, the performance space can function as an installation, allowing audiences to remix a performance from pre-recorded audiovisual streams captured from the singer’s body.
- Venue Format
- Theatre, Hall, Black Box Venue
- Technical Rating
- Touring Party
- 3
- Considerations
This performance contains mature content
For health and safety reasons a maximum of two performances can be delivered per day with a minimum spacing of two hours scheduled between start times.
Several projectors are required for this work, please refer to Presenters Kit for detailed Technical Requirements.
Cre8ion is an energetic company that produces and tours theatrical shows and unique events.
Cre8ion works with artists across many genres, children’s theatre, cabaret, comedy, opera, drama, music and physical theatre to create and produce theatrical works. We can accommodate exclusive one-night performances, national and international tours or a theatre season.
Cre8ion also commissions and produces exciting new works and has collaborated with some of our industry’s best theatrical artists. We can start with just an embryo of an idea and develop and produce a successful show with a long touring life.
- Company Website
- cre8ion.com.au
Unique Selling Point
Vocal Womb is the first work of it's kind whereby the audience see the internal workings of the human voice live.
Outside performance times, the performance space can function as an installation, allowing the audience to remix a performance from pre-recorded audiovisual streams captured from the singer’s body.
This work can be presented in three ways: • As a full performance incorporating live audience mixing of the performer’s bodily sounds. • As a shortened performance presenting the laryngoscope visualisation only. • As an installation (with performances or as a standalone work).
Marketing Materials
Show Synopsis Media Release A6 Postcard, DL, A2 & A3 templates Suite of hi-res photographic Hero Images Suite of social media images & gifs 15 Sec & 30 Sec TVC's Specific web required banners can be created on demand. Eve Klein available for media interviews as required
Community Engagement
The work has an installation element which can be accessed by the public outside of performance times. This can be a value add for the ticket purchaser as a further visit either prior or post attending the performance.
Post performance Q&A session with the artist can also be provided.
Comments/Reviews
Amanda Laver
Media Review
"...the punch she produces as she blasts out the word 'contractions' in a mezzo-soprano that's like water on glass. She removes and reinserts the 'device' with her assistant and they treat it as if they're handling Klein's firstborn. All this takes a good 30 seconds and it's fucking intense to behold in a full room of silent punters..." (Read More)
Ben Neutze
Media Review
“...there's an intriguing tension between the cool, clinical nature of what's effectively a medical procedure, and the passion and artistry of Klein's singing. There's also something incredibly voyeuristic about what's happening: when she first inserts the laryngoscope, you wonder for a second if you really should be looking inside this stranger. What develops is a strangely intimate dance....” (Read More)
Sarah Walker
Media Review
“a profoundly intimate and surprising experience. The feed from the laryngoscope felt like Jonah’s view from inside the whale, a feeling emphasised by the deep-sea rumble from the mic and the opportunity for audience members to live-mix Klein’s heart, intestines and lung sounds as she sang." (Read More)