You have worked as an Assistant Director on OA’s Opera on Sydney Harbour. Has that proved useful?

I worked on the Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour (HOSH) production of West Side Story and the La Bohème that Andy Morton directed. I’m a huge fan of the whole outdoor opera experience as both a creative and a punter, but there are certainly challenges associated with making a work on that scale. To be honest, I don’t think I could have gone into the process of making Carmen on Cockatoo Island with any confidence if I hadn’t already worked on the HOSH shows. I think that has given me a sense of what works best and what it’s important to avoid.

Liesel Bardorrek

Liesel Brdorrek. Photo © Opera Australia.

Will you be using any of the industrial area around the stage?

Cockatoo Island is such a unique environment, it really lends itself to an artistic happening. Just the fact that it is an island is exciting in terms of being able to bring people into a new world. The rawness and unmanicured aesthetic...