Conclusion

Through the process of exploring, writing, performing, and producing the works in this PhD I have found that opera, as a multidisciplinary artform, provides an ideal framework through which to explore, embody and represent scientific concepts and subjects of research. The two examples presented here show that the method of ‘librettising’ can be transferred from physics to other areas of science, if there is a focus on in-depth research into the topic, which includes engagement with scientists currently active in the field, and therefore that there is space for many more works to be created in this genre. By developing the work in collaborative cycles of creation and performance I was able to explore the performativity of each piece as it was being created, in order to adapt and edit the script and production elements towards the final performances.

Both works present operatic performances based on and guided by scientific research and concepts, alongside expressing the philosophical, social or even political issues surrounding the science presented. The use of archetype in narrative and character was a helpful tool in grounding the topics of the operas within forms and formats that are commonly experienced by audiences and other artists. This was particularly noticeable in The Flowering Desert where the characters derived from Jung’s archetypes were more easily formulated than in Lipote: An Interconnected Journey. Creating stories in which the main subjects are embodied representations of the science itself enables the science to become fully embedded in the operatic characters on stage, whilst also blending the science with the human experience of drama and emotion through performance. Constant reference back to the science during the creative and production process, along with guidance and input from experts in the field helped all creators of the work to maintain sincerity to the scientific research. Using archetypal relationships and narratives enabled the science to be transferred easily into opera, providing space for a poetic exploration of the subject through the text alongside a multimodal response to the subject in music and design. During the research phase of creating Lipote: An Interconnected Journey I found that there are structures associated to the science which can also be used to scaffold the narrative and characters. This enabled me to embed the outputs of other disciplines beyond ecology into the narrative, such as panarchic transitions from the field of socio-ecology, which can play an interdisciplinary role in the study and understanding of ecosystems within academic research. For The Flowering Desert it was useful to focus the archetypal associations around the discipline of psychology, to highlight the impact that humans can have on the trajectory of astrophysics through how open they are to exploring beyond the boundaries of their immediate experiences.

Collaboration was also a vital aspect to both works. As a non-specialist myself it was key that I made use of the skills and expertise of specialists in the other fields required to produce opera. Having frequent contact with my collaborators, and space to explore the topics together (both online and in person) was a necessary stage to developing an embedded approach to the subject matter. I did find, however, that it was easier to generate the joint language and collaborative approach when you are working in person, rather than virtually. With The Flowering Desert most of the initial creative work happened online meaning that we had less time to explore the performativity of the characters before they were set in the libretto, music and design. We also did not have an overlapping collaboration between Tadas Stalyga and Leon Trimble, meaning that not all collaborators were integrated fully into the entire creative process. Despite this, the thorough research and integrated collaboration conducted by myself and Daniel Blanco provided a strong enough framework to involve a wider range of collaborators on the project beyond the first cycle of work. Having now performed the work and seen the audience feedback, along with the recording of the dress rehearsal, I can see that there is still space for improvement in the quality of the projections, the integration of the subtitles, some revamping in costume, and a deeper connection between the movement of the performers and the projections on the dome. I hope to be able to carry out this work before any other future performances.  The opera has however been successful in its initial aims to convey the deeper philosophical implications of the discovery of the TRAPPIST-1 system, as well as some of the key theories that underpin the search for exoplanetary systems through an embodied approach. It was also successful in delivering a site-specific operatic performance in a subject driven venue which served to further embody the topic within the space itself.

On the other hand, the work for Lipote: An Interconnected Journey happened all in person, and as such enabled us to carry out a more thorough exploration of the various dramaturgical, scenic and choreographic elements from the very start of writing and composition. We were also able to work with the designer and choreographer, allowing them to shape the development of the story and music towards the needs of these disciplines as well as the demands of the topic. A further cycle of this work would allow us to refine elements of the production that were hard to perfect due to time and funding constraints. For example, I would now like to be able to explore performances of Lipote: An Interconnected Journey in a variety of venues, with a new staging that could reconsider the position of the audience among the action. There is plenty of scope to make this work a deeper sensory and immersive experience now it has been fully realised and dramaturgically set.

Even though the aim of this work was not to provide a different type of pedagogical tool to disseminate and teach in-depth scientific research, this would be a potential future area of research beyond the work done here. This type of research could seek to answer questions around the impact this type of transformation of a subject can have on a non-specialist audience, but also whether this type of work could help the scientists themselves to reframe and reconceptualise their own discoveries. Post-doctoral research could also further explore this new field of post-qualitative research/inquiry by creating new works which seek to understand the embodiment of science from the performer to the audience in a more fully immersive manner. Making the audience a more active participant in the work might help academics and researchers to understand the limits and power of performance to change the perception of the viewer.

The act of writing in the creation of libretti was the first step on the pathway towards the formation of new representations of science through character and narrative. St. Pierre (2012) discusses the value of writing in response to her theory on post qualitative inquiry and states that:

post qualitative inquiry became for me, as Foucault (2984/85) wrote, what “can and must be thought” (p. 7), and so the phrase, post qualitative inquiry, wrote itself in 2010. Lingering on the edge of the not-yet is not uncommon for those who acknowledge that writing is thinking, that writing is, after all, another method of inquiry (2018: online)

This research uses both writing and collaborative performance in its method of inquiry. In a thorough exploration of this new field of post qualitative research Lesley La Grange (2012: online) breaks it down into several parts which include the notion that: ‘(Post)qualitative research sees researchers questioning why knowledge should be the point of departure in inquiry, decentres knowledge and embraces the inseparability of ethics, ontology and knowledge’. The projects conducted here into the performance and the creation of new operatic works to further inquire and explore the nature of the topics of scientific inquiry, constitute an element of this type of research. They both explore the boundaries of ontologies, and gives space for ethical consideration alongside the subject matter. Le Grange goes on to say that:

(post)qualitative research recognises that method is performative. In other words, we can choose methods which are transformative – methods that make possible the transformation of the world. In other words, the methods of (post)qualitative research unfold through intra-actions with the world. (2012: online)

The use of both anthropomorphism and an operatic staging enables an exploration of a highly dramatic, emotive and embodied version of the topic. The embodiment of the science occurs not only in the body and voice during performance but also in the emotional and cerebral connection the performers and audience make with the characters. As Coetzee tells us ‘[b]rain, thought, mind and learning have a physical and bodily nature – as do affect and meaning’ (2018: online). As such the performer may be shaped by the subjects they represent through physicality and thought, but also the empathetic representation of the subject on stage must have some embodied impact on the audience, through both their experience in the space and their thought responses to the actions on stage. In doing so, and by making use of a non-human subject, this work serves to decentre our thoughts and experiences towards the experiential existence of the more-than-human.  Generating and performing anthropomorphic representations of science creates a space where thought and imagination are able to interact with physical and tangible experience. The projects in this thesis therefore work towards a post qualitative inquiry as they have attempted to bridge the gap between this physical and embodied experience of a subject, alongside the empirical scientific approach to it. McGilchrist tells us that:

we can begin with the description in terms of physics, but could never progress from that to the experiential tree; whereas we can begin with the experience and later incorporate within it the physics. (2021: 822-823)

Ultimately the multimedia assimilation of the subject matter in opera also enables space for an ‘intra-active’ and interdisciplinary inquiry between the subject, the music, the text, the visual nature of it, the performers and the audience. The theatrical space provides a new situation to encounter knowledge of science that is very different to the more common exposition of the subject through an academic text. Even though the aim of this work was not to provide a different type of pedagogical tool towards disseminating and teaching in-depth scientific research, this would be a potential future area of research beyond the work done here. This type of research could seek to answer questions around the impact this type of transformation of a subject can have on a non-specialist audience, but also whether this type of work could help the scientists themselves to reframe and reconceptualise their own discoveries.  A postdoctoral follow on from this work could also further explore this new field of post-qualitative research/inquiry by creating new works which seek to understand the embodiment of science from the performer to the audience in a more fully immersive manner. Making the audience a more active participant in the work might help academics and researchers to understand the limits and power of performance to change the perception of the viewer. The scientific subject is given space to be met by the audience, via the immersive operatic work on stage. This was achieved by: working with multiple disciplines; collaborating with other creative practitioners; conducting an extended period of research into the subject (including talking to experts); and searching for archetypal or transpersonal frameworks in which to express the subject. All of these methods served to constantly remind the creative team to decentre themselves from their own viewpoint, and to find a mental realm beyond the approach of a single discipline, through which to interface with the potential experienced existence of the subject itself.

This work acknowledges that there are many metaphysical elements present in the work of scientists that evade the experimental and positivist nature of the scientific method, but which have been explored and theorised by philosophers. These questions such as the nature of consciousness, chaos and causality in time, the origins of the universe, or the reason for life, are embedded in our scientific quest for knowledge and can be explored alongside the science in the type of interdisciplinary approach that a theatrical representation, and a post qualitative inquiry, can offer. The operatic stage allows us to continually refer back to these seemingly unanswerable questions, igniting imaginations, and giving us renewed curiosity towards our continually unfolding descriptions of the world around us.