Sage J Harlow: Interdisciplinary making with text scores

Sage J Harlow is the author and composer of O,D,E, a "text score opera" premiering at The Blue Room Theatre from 26 August - 6 September. Probably the first opera of its kind, text scores - open-ended, written prompts for musicians and singers - make up the entirety of the work's 65-minute score. There is no traditional music notation in the opera.

So what is a text score? Why write them? What different types of text score are there? This workshop will explore these questions. You'll be invited to play some text scores by other people; write some of your own; and play each other's. Sage will also talk a bit about how and why she used text scores to write O,D,E, and what she learnt from bringing these to artists from other disciplines.

Bring:

• something to write with

• something to make sound, like:

  • an instrument you like playing

  • your voice

  • some found objects that make nice sounds

• something else you like making art with if you like (dance, painting, drawing, etc.)

This workshop is open to anyone - you don't need to have a practice as a musician or composer, and can participate as far as you feel comfortable.

About O,D,E

Meditation is a powerful force. O used it for liberation, until their peaceful passing. Their lover E is led astray by power and seeks to bring O back from the dead. They manage—but do not recognise O in their new body, so seek to become Death themself. Death is just doing her job. Until she isn’t. 

O,D,E is a new experimental opera by Sage J Harlow (aka Sage Pbbbt). A queer, occult retelling of Orpheus & Eurydice, grounded in the suffering that comes with simply being alive. Exploring gender and identity, characters change bodies, enter contracts with eternity and howl through the libretto as they do so. 

Underpinned by live music from an ensemble of noisemakers who bring a new meaning to “pit band”, O,D,E fuses the grandeur of opera with lo-fi, weirdo improv and metal aesthetics. 

O,D,E premieres 26 August - 6 September at The Blue Room Theatre. Tickets on sale now.

Accessibility

The Blue Room Theatre is a wheelchair accessible space. The workshops are held in the Old Office, which is on the ground floor. Accessible, all-gender bathrooms are located on the ground floor. The venue will be lit by a mixture of fluro and natural lighting. Ventilation is limited as the windows cannot be easily opened in the space.

Acknowledgments

O,D,E is presented by The Blue Room Theatre & Tone List. The first creative development of O,D,E was supported by the Western Australian state government through the Department of Local Government, Sports & Culture Industries, and the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts.