Jenůfa

            Opera is a unique art form that never fails to evoke an emotional response within the audience. No matter what the Opera is about there is going to be an emotional reaction from the audience. There is so much more than just sounds that go into an Opera performance, there is light, costume, sets and technology all intricately put together to create something much larger. The thing that sets Operas apart is the intensity of the music coming from a person’s mouth. When watching a performance, it is captivating to think that all of these sounds are purely coming from someone’s vocal cords bouncing off of each other at extreme speeds. But that is just the basics of what goes into an Opera. There are many things that occur behind the curtain, or even done in plain sight, without the audience knowing which I believe is what makes Operas magical to the human eye. The simplicity of Jenůfa was not lacking an emotional response, rather the simplicity of the costumes and sets were effective in revealing the true meaning that laid beneath the performance to grab the audience and receive a reaction.

            Before watching Jenůfa, I had pictured all Operas being elaborate by using technology in new and creative ways to portray the performance to the audience. Even though costumes and sets are only pieces of the performance, they are two aspects that truly make a difference. Although the costumes in Jenůfa were never elaborate or colorful, they did match the tone of the performance. Wearing mute and monotone colors, such as off-white or black, throughout the entire performance set the tone of the Opera. Having certain characters, such as Jenůfa and her stepmother, in different dress makes the audience pay closer attention to them without even knowing it. By having the Kostelnička in dark dress in the beginning of the performance foreshadows what is to come. The Kostelnička being in dark clothes is like having a dark cloud looming above throughout the whole performance. Dressing her in dark clothes and the other performers in lighter clothes in the beginning, already makes the audience have an emotional reaction before any drama had occurred. This is all due to the simple fact that she did not match the rest of the set which was comprised of warm light colors. Keeping her in dark clothes makes the audience feel uneasy the whole time, representing her evil character even though they did not have any evidence to support this until the very end.

            As the Opera progressed, I was expecting there to be more technology used in the performance. The stage differed only slightly from act to act, but it was the lighting that made the acts stand out from one another. In the first act, the lights were bright and the audience was able to see everything that was going on on stage, which left nothing to the imagination. But in the second act, the lighting was very dark with only a few spotlights. Setting up the stage in this way with the rock being the main focal point, made the audience guess more due to the fact that not everything was easily visible. This caused the audience to question what was happening that they could not see. During this point in the Opera the Kostelnička is acting very suspicious, drugging Jenůfa and lying to her, which pulls the audience in based on curiosity of the unknown. The use of lighting and props in this act is effective in getting the desired reaction from the audience.

            This play kept the audience attention throughout the whole performance because of Kostelnička practically controlling the whole situation, which I would simulate to chess match. In chess you must deceit, lie, and ponder in order to win the game, and that is exactly what occurred in this play. Kostelnička was the chess master, moving the pawns throughout and controlling all things that occurred. The pawns were Jenůfa, Steva, and Laca all being manipulated by Kostelnička. The whole time she had her own agenda and used them to complete her plan. Drugging Jenůfa so she could take her baby away from her was the ultimate move. Jenůfa had no idea what had happened or why she was feeling ill, but Kostelnička did because she was moving the pawns of the chess match but doing it discreetly so no one would ever suspect anything. Kostelnička being the pawn master kept the audience interested because they could see how manipulative she was being but the other characters could not, causing them to ponder the much larger picture that was being created.

            Jenůfa is like Tetris, trying to add up all the pieces together to create a much larger picture. Some do not add up and some fit into the puzzle just like it was meant to be. As the performance is happening, there are many questions that do not make sense to the audience, the largest one being what happened to Jenůfa’s baby? The whole time the audience is trying to figure out this strange situation that is occurring, why is Jenůfa “sick?” and where is her baby? The Tetris pieces have to be moved and rotated in different directions until they fit in with the other pieces, and the audience must think and ponder all of the strange things happening on stage. As time goes on, the pieces are starting to come together making the picture clearer, but it is not until the very end when it all comes together to show how each piece must be perfectly placed to complete the puzzle. Things do not start to become clear until Jenůfa finds out that the Kostelnička is the one who killed her baby, but they still are not clear enough to make the puzzle complete. It is when the Kostelnička explains why she killed the baby, to protect Jenůfa and her baby, that the puzzle is finally complete and all of the pieces perfectly fit into the puzzle. While the performance was happening, the audience was forced to use their imaginations and creativity to try and figure out the puzzle, moving the pieces and trying new options to make it all clear.

            Although the picture was not made clear until the end of Jenůfa, the audience still became emotionally involved with this Opera. The lack of outrageous costumes and set changes kept the audience on their toes leaving them to use their imaginations to sort out the story line as it progressed. Just like in Tetris, they were forced to ponder new options and new configurations to try and answer the questions that loomed overhead throughout. This allowed the audience to have an emotional reaction not just in the end, but every time something would occur in the Opera. The music, costumes and sets were all perfectly put together to allow enough information to be given to the audience, and yet not allow too much information to be given either. By leaving questions for the audience to answer throughout the performance, the director pulled them in and was able to keep them concentrated until the very end when it all came together perfectly, just like the tiles of Tetris being manipulated into one another completing the puzzle.