**4. Discussion**

The participatory opera we designed and implemented has both strengths and weaknesses. On the positive side of the ledger, we developed a viable staging from a complex story and setting that is understood and appreciated by audiences (given the far future setting and the science fiction components, this is itself a net achievement). The story is perceived as being engaging and intense, as well as having undeniable poetic and esthetic qualities. Furthermore, as we desired, the opera raises interesting and nuanced questions and elicits discussion about tolerance and conformity.

On the other hand, none of the current (virtual) staging efforts was fully successful. Indeed, despite several attempts to re-introduce embodied elements into the opera via interactive components, for example, audience identification with the avatars remains weaker than we would have preferred. For example, the bully dance, which was brilliantly choreographed, remains of muted impact because the dance movements are applied to the small figures of the animated dancers. To have more impact, the animations of individual dancers should vary slightly from one dancer to the next, and means should be provided to view "up close" the dance sequences. The integration of live lyrics with the pre-recorded or scripted scenarios helped give the opera a more effective impact [23], but the integration of the live, virtual and pre-recorded components remains a challenge.

The incorporation of subtitles into the staging was easier to do using the prerecorded scenarios than in the scripted scenarios. Although the scripted staging offers in principle greater flexibility, in practice most members of the audience were not even aware of the difference between the two options, and the pre-recorded option is much easier to manage since it consists only of running video footage (rather than triggering Unity scripts that have to work together).

The interaction via the plant ecosystem appears to be a successful strategy for engaging audiences within the unfolding action. It allows the story to be influenced in "organic" ways without these being overly intrusive. However, the actual interaction as carried out remains of limited scope (affecting the final success of the protagonist's flight). We would like to provide more varied opportunities for interaction—again, this was part of our original concept but our resource limitations made full implementation of more complex interactions difficult to achieve, even within the virtual staging.

We also successfully implemented a multiplayer online co-creation environment, although we have as yet not fully harnessed the environment to support the ongoing work on the opera and its potential sequels. The online environment allows users to input and play with melodies, movement and text scenarios with a view to influencing future development of related operas, as well as providing the means to explore other aspects of the "world building" that contribute to the success of the Ido Chronicles universe.

Validation remains an issue that has not been adequately addressed. The effort to develop the opera was itself so demanding that we had little time or resources left over to work out a viable evaluation protocol. Coming up with assessment modalities is part of the ongoing work we are looking into. Indeed, assessment needs to address several contexts: the success of the opera as an artistic achievement, its success in raising pertinent issues for discussion, and the success of particular technical features of the opera design.

In the introduction, the value of the opera project to the writer (Edwards) was described. Although the project is by no means finished, and the full engagement with the public has yet to be achieved, the work to date has led to the opening of significant areas for further development. In particular, Edwards has begun work

**103**

tively expensive.

*Designing a Participatory and Interactive Opera DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.82811*

within broader publics.

**5. Conclusion**

on a second context, that of the passage of trauma across generations, within the context of the impacts of the Second World War. Drawing on the existing work within the opera project and its online co-creation environment, we are now beginning the development of an additional co-creation environment dealing with this other context, hence creating extended value for engendering transformation

Furthermore, the story of *Pinnacle*: *The First Book of Eng* was substantially modified to support the development of the opera script and its corresponding libretto. Given that the *Ido Chronicles* itself is still undergoing publication [17], this presents an opportunity to "update" the story of Pinnacle to bring it into alignment with the opera. Note that one of Edwards' goals in writing the *Ido Chronicles* was to allow for a certain level of inconsistency to exist between the different versions of the same story, that is, emphasizing that multiple truths are needed to describe human experiences, not all of them consistent with each other. Nonetheless, the opera represents a dramatic change and hence some effort to reduce the level of inconsistency is being attempted. *Pinnacle*: *The First Book of Eng* required revision in any case, for other reasons, but the rewriting will include paying attention to the need to bring the text within the broad framework provided by the operatic version of the text. Hence the work on the opera has enriched

Our team remains convinced that participatory opera is viable despite skepticism on the part of some practitioners [25]. Our project, in many ways, only scratched the surface of what could be achieved. Participation could potentially involve many different modalities, up to and including direct insertion of audience members, e.g., as avatars, into the unfolding scenario of the opera. However, such direct insertion poses challenges for managing the story line that results. We found a more organic means of having audiences influence the unfolding action by allowing them to control flora and fauna, that is, peripheral elements within the current

We also noted that it is possible to provide a kind of "local" interaction that individual observers may see—through, for example, a virtual or augmented reality device without affecting the shared perspective—that is, they may control the virtual appearance (e.g., esthetics) of many of the scene elements without necessarily affecting the story line itself. These esthetic considerations/interactions will also affect the final perception by the participant of the opera. Indeed our work highlights these two distinct modalities for participation, one involving the private customization of the esthetics of the presentation via personal devices, and the other collecting reactions (i.e., gestures, voice) so as to ensure their cumulative

Although we remain convinced that augmented reality productions are a viable performance modality, our experience of augmented virtuality constitutes a useful and significantly less costly performance alternative. We use the term "augmented virtuality" to highlight the fact that although our opera was virtual, it included live performance elements that enhanced what would otherwise be a pure VR experience [26]. For opera designed to be presented to small audiences in, for example, educational settings, virtual opera is a feasible product, where a fully developed stage production or even a reduced augmented reality staging would be prohibi-

Now that the opera and the online co-creation environment are both complete, we will be using these to reach out to a range of audiences in order to address issues

the writing of the source story in substantive and interesting ways.

set design that nonetheless may affect the story line.

effect on the shared action as it unfolds.

*Designing a Participatory and Interactive Opera DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.82811*

*Interactive Multimedia - Multimedia Production and Digital Storytelling*

virtual and pre-recorded components remains a challenge.

(rather than triggering Unity scripts that have to work together).

even within the virtual staging.

Ido Chronicles universe.

features of the opera design.

The participatory opera we designed and implemented has both strengths and weaknesses. On the positive side of the ledger, we developed a viable staging from a complex story and setting that is understood and appreciated by audiences (given the far future setting and the science fiction components, this is itself a net achievement). The story is perceived as being engaging and intense, as well as having undeniable poetic and esthetic qualities. Furthermore, as we desired, the opera raises interesting and nuanced questions and elicits discussion about tolerance and

On the other hand, none of the current (virtual) staging efforts was fully successful. Indeed, despite several attempts to re-introduce embodied elements into the opera via interactive components, for example, audience identification with the avatars remains weaker than we would have preferred. For example, the bully dance, which was brilliantly choreographed, remains of muted impact because the dance movements are applied to the small figures of the animated dancers. To have more impact, the animations of individual dancers should vary slightly from one dancer to the next, and means should be provided to view "up close" the dance sequences. The integration of live lyrics with the pre-recorded or scripted scenarios helped give the opera a more effective impact [23], but the integration of the live,

The incorporation of subtitles into the staging was easier to do using the prerecorded scenarios than in the scripted scenarios. Although the scripted staging offers in principle greater flexibility, in practice most members of the audience were not even aware of the difference between the two options, and the pre-recorded option is much easier to manage since it consists only of running video footage

The interaction via the plant ecosystem appears to be a successful strategy for engaging audiences within the unfolding action. It allows the story to be influenced in "organic" ways without these being overly intrusive. However, the actual interaction as carried out remains of limited scope (affecting the final success of the protagonist's flight). We would like to provide more varied opportunities for interaction—again, this was part of our original concept but our resource limitations made full implementation of more complex interactions difficult to achieve,

We also successfully implemented a multiplayer online co-creation environment, although we have as yet not fully harnessed the environment to support the ongoing work on the opera and its potential sequels. The online environment allows users to input and play with melodies, movement and text scenarios with a view to influencing future development of related operas, as well as providing the means to explore other aspects of the "world building" that contribute to the success of the

Validation remains an issue that has not been adequately addressed. The effort to develop the opera was itself so demanding that we had little time or resources left over to work out a viable evaluation protocol. Coming up with assessment modalities is part of the ongoing work we are looking into. Indeed, assessment needs to address several contexts: the success of the opera as an artistic achievement, its success in raising pertinent issues for discussion, and the success of particular technical

In the introduction, the value of the opera project to the writer (Edwards) was described. Although the project is by no means finished, and the full engagement with the public has yet to be achieved, the work to date has led to the opening of significant areas for further development. In particular, Edwards has begun work

**4. Discussion**

conformity.

**102**

on a second context, that of the passage of trauma across generations, within the context of the impacts of the Second World War. Drawing on the existing work within the opera project and its online co-creation environment, we are now beginning the development of an additional co-creation environment dealing with this other context, hence creating extended value for engendering transformation within broader publics.

Furthermore, the story of *Pinnacle*: *The First Book of Eng* was substantially modified to support the development of the opera script and its corresponding libretto. Given that the *Ido Chronicles* itself is still undergoing publication [17], this presents an opportunity to "update" the story of Pinnacle to bring it into alignment with the opera. Note that one of Edwards' goals in writing the *Ido Chronicles* was to allow for a certain level of inconsistency to exist between the different versions of the same story, that is, emphasizing that multiple truths are needed to describe human experiences, not all of them consistent with each other. Nonetheless, the opera represents a dramatic change and hence some effort to reduce the level of inconsistency is being attempted. *Pinnacle*: *The First Book of Eng* required revision in any case, for other reasons, but the rewriting will include paying attention to the need to bring the text within the broad framework provided by the operatic version of the text. Hence the work on the opera has enriched the writing of the source story in substantive and interesting ways.

#### **5. Conclusion**

Our team remains convinced that participatory opera is viable despite skepticism on the part of some practitioners [25]. Our project, in many ways, only scratched the surface of what could be achieved. Participation could potentially involve many different modalities, up to and including direct insertion of audience members, e.g., as avatars, into the unfolding scenario of the opera. However, such direct insertion poses challenges for managing the story line that results. We found a more organic means of having audiences influence the unfolding action by allowing them to control flora and fauna, that is, peripheral elements within the current set design that nonetheless may affect the story line.

We also noted that it is possible to provide a kind of "local" interaction that individual observers may see—through, for example, a virtual or augmented reality device without affecting the shared perspective—that is, they may control the virtual appearance (e.g., esthetics) of many of the scene elements without necessarily affecting the story line itself. These esthetic considerations/interactions will also affect the final perception by the participant of the opera. Indeed our work highlights these two distinct modalities for participation, one involving the private customization of the esthetics of the presentation via personal devices, and the other collecting reactions (i.e., gestures, voice) so as to ensure their cumulative effect on the shared action as it unfolds.

Although we remain convinced that augmented reality productions are a viable performance modality, our experience of augmented virtuality constitutes a useful and significantly less costly performance alternative. We use the term "augmented virtuality" to highlight the fact that although our opera was virtual, it included live performance elements that enhanced what would otherwise be a pure VR experience [26]. For opera designed to be presented to small audiences in, for example, educational settings, virtual opera is a feasible product, where a fully developed stage production or even a reduced augmented reality staging would be prohibitively expensive.

Now that the opera and the online co-creation environment are both complete, we will be using these to reach out to a range of audiences in order to address issues of tolerance, change, conformity, disability and other relevant issues raised by these productions. We are also planning to extend the capabilities of the online co-creation environment and to encourage its use as a means to engage audiences in the production process, that is, the development of new operas, or in support of other collective ventures. Finally, it is worth noting that as a collaborative effort this was an extraordinary adventure at the intersection between artistic creation, technological innovation and the science of audience engagement.
