Katya Kabanova

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https://www.victorianopera.com.au/production/katya-kabanova/

Date Reviewed: 16/10/2025

Victorian Opera’s Katya Kabanova at the Palais Theatre was a unique and immersive production. It was haunting, beautiful, and unlike traditional opera performances. 

Janá?ek’s 1921 work, sung in Czech with English surtitles, tells the story of Katya, a woman suffocated by small-town expectations and trapped between love, guilt and faith. It’s a dark, tragic opera but this production found an incredible balance between raw emotion and stunning visual design. 

The set was simple but endlessly clever: huge suspended metal frames that hung over the stage like a cage, later lowered and reformed into a boardwalk stretching over a shimmering lake. It managed to feel both industrial and dreamlike, almost a reflection of Katya’s inner thoughts.

One of the most surprising choices was the use of live camera work. A cameraman followed the performers onstage, capturing close-ups that were projected behind them in real time. It gave the audience a sense of intimacy with the performers, revealing every flicker of emotion on stage.

The orchestra from the Australian National Academy of Music played beneath the stage, and the beautiful sound filled every corner of the Palais. At around 100 minutes with no interval, Katya Kabanova never lost focus. It was bold, devastating, and deeply moving. A true credit to the talented cast. 

Reviewed by Kavya