Not your average school musical - Friday 5 May saw the performance of 'Cancel Culture' at Cobar High School, an opera that 24 students wrote in 5 days, with help from staff of Opera Express.  

Opera Express started in 2015 and involves groups of up to 30 students, who create their own original opera, during a burst of intensive workshops. The students working together with Opera Express staff come up with characters, plot, script, music, sets, direction, choreography and the actual performance of the opera. 

This is the second year that Opera Express has been to Cobar, they first visited in 2021, with thanks to generous sponsorship by Peak Gold Mines, Aurelia Metals – a mine which operates within the Cobar shire.  

Murray Dahm, Creative Director at Opera Express told the Western Plains App, "It has been amazing to return to Cobar and see the generosity and camaraderie of the students, even though we've got a mix of years from 7 to 10. [Cobar is] a wonderful community". 

Laura Andrew, Music Teacher and Year 10 Advisor at Cobar High School told the Western Plains App that the students get many benefit from being part of the opera program.

"Students get a unique opportunity to work with amazing facilitators from the opera company ‘Opera Express’, writing their very own opera". 

"Students may not have had any previous experience of opera … it’s important for students to have new experiences as part of their education," Ms Andrew said. "Opera explores so many creative facets and students have the opportunity to see what they enjoy and express themselves." 

ABOVE: Cobar High School students performing in 'Cancel Culture', the opera they came up with 5 days of intensive workshops with Opera Express staff [Image: E. Datson] 

This year 24 Cobar High School students self-nominated to participate in the program, out of an overall school population of 230 students.  

Their opera explored the 'Cancel Culture' concept which Ms Andrew says is "something they see regularly in the media."

"Students are investigating both sides of this, including the flip side where maybe we need to take some time to understand one another better," she said. 

Cancel culture is when there is a mass withdrawal of support for celebrities who have done things that aren't socially acceptable and it often happens on social media.

Through their opera performance, Cobar High School students also encouraged the audience to consider that we don’t know how someone is feeling on the inside, and to ask some questions to better understand others before coming to conclusions.  

Murry Dahm described the opera the Cobar High students wrote as "a cancel culture comedy!"

"The students deal with an up-to-the-minute topical subject and come to an affirming and caring conclusion with many laughs and toe-tapping tunes along the way," he said.

Mr Dahm also told the Western Plains App that "Students get all sorts of things from the project - not only do they create their own show from scratch but we've found they gain a greater sense of self belief in doing things they didn't think they could at the start; writing, composing, painting, singing, and dancing". 

Throughout this year Opera Express will work with four schools, including Cobar High School and help create 8 operas, as one school does four operas. To find out more about Opera Express see their website. 

Caption: The full cast, with Ms Laura Andrew, and Opera Express staff members Peter Auon and Murray Dahm, taking their encore [Image: E. Datson]