When explorer and author Isabelle Eberhardt was old enough to roam Geneva’s streets, her father let her wander alone under one condition: that she wear trousers.
Eberhardt was always untamed. When she left her native Switzerland at 20 in 1897 for the heavy air of the North African desert, she dressed like a man, armed herself with a gun and subscribed to mektoub — a principle arising from her chosen religion of Islam, meaning “it is written.”
During arid horseback expeditions surrounded by men, she was known as Si Mahmoud Saadi. Her shaved head and loose Arabian garments were convincing, and her fascination with masculinity also rests on the pages of her only novel, Vagabond.
By the time she was in her 20s, Eberhardt had seduced a married man into what he believed would be homosexual mischief, fought off a bout with malaria and smoked, drank and medicated herself into a sickly state.
She died in the Algerian desert in a flash-flood at 27.
City Opera Vancouver explores Eberhardt’s life and death in their production Song from the Uproar: The Lives and Deaths of Isabelle Eberhardt. Mezzo-soprano Marion Newman leads the production in the role of Eberhardt, supported by a five-person chorus consisting entirely of UBC Opera students.
Uproar’s music director and conductor Gordon Gerrard recently worked with UBC Opera on Cendrillon, which was staged at the Chan Centre in early February.
Gerrard saw Uproar as an opportunity to help UBC students gain performance experience outside of the university’s productions, so he approached the School of Music while auditioning singers for the production.
Based on the diaries and memoirs written by Eberhardt, the opera captures her inching toward her own downfall as she recalls memories that molded her throughout her life.
The show begins with Eberhardt’s passing, taking place in a liminal space between Earth and the afterlife. A chorus of spirit guides usher Eberhardt from moment to moment, accompanying her as she moves towards death — her final exploration.
“It's been tricky to try to figure out how to act like you're trying to help this lady,” said Katie Fraser, a chorus member and mezzo-soprano in her final year of her diploma in music performance. “You're there but you're not there. I think that's been an interesting concept for us to try to understand.”
Fraser said that navigating the complexities of contemporary opera has not been easy. Though some would call the score a classical work, fusions of jazz, the punch of an electric guitar and the hum of a synth throws it out of line from other more traditional opera productions.
“We've had to learn how to work with a pre-recorded track while also singing live, which is not usual for us,” Fraser noted.
Uproar’s score and movement-heavy staging is drastically different from the material Fraser worked with as Prince Charming in Cendrillon — but she welcomes the chance to navigate this new territory, and believes audiences will also find delight in this fresh approach to the artform.
After all, there’s no better way to honour Eberhardt’s sense of adventure than by embracing the uncharted.
“She was very strong in her opinions and I think the audience will definitely see that come through.”
Song from the Uproar: The Lives and Deaths of Isabelle Eberhardt is on stage February 29, March 2 and March 3 at the York Theatre. Tickets are available here.