Firstly, I must say that this was my first experience at an opera and it was definitely not what I had expected. I guess I had imagined a stereotyped version of the opera in which a rather thick woman dominates the stage and sings until her lungs can give no more. Yet, this opera was different on various levels. To begin, the show was mostly composed of men. Next, the singing was actually not as loud as I thought it would be ( I imagined it might be a bit unbearably loud, I guess expect some superpower voice). Thirdly, the performance greatly resembled a theatrical showing. For some reason I had assumed that the opera had less of a visible story line. Thus, in these general aspects I was already delighted by my opera experience.

 Personally, I found that setting to be quite amazing. I don't know if it was the fact that we were sitting on the first level, but every prison wall" appeared huge. It really gave a sense of captivity and isolation. Moreover, I thought it was ingenious the way the walls moved forward and backwards to accommodate the setting's context and reveal doorways. Unlike plays where the backgrounds often look 2-D and painted on a wall, the opera's stage looked very three dimensional which added to its reality. One other striking stage aspect was the instance in which all the books and paraphernalia fell from the ceiling for the prisoners to clean up. I really thought that creative because it was not only unexpected but it demonstrated how the prison work was often pointless and unnecessary.

My favorite scene was the one in which the story of Alkulka was told. I loved it because the actual text of this scene was very climactic and eventful, yet on the stage there was little going on. It was nighttime and all the jail mates laid in their bed trying to sleep. Thus, Alkulka's story was not really a conventional bed time story. Moreover, it was creative to hear how the music followed the textual language rather than the present time setting.  Yet, what really made this scene my favorite was the fact that it was comical when the speaker would snap "Don't rush me!". When I had read this part in the book, I did not suspect it to be comical but instead angry and violent. Therefore, it was a pleasant twist. 

Lastly, another striking scene was at the very beginning when all the men took up the stage floor wearing just their under garments. I thought that scene was powerful because you could sense the overcrowding and the mistreatment these prisoners went through. Even though each prisoner had committed a crime, I still pitied their state of living. I could not help but connect that sort of mass grouping and coming out of the showers scene to the Holocaust. Hence, even though this part was miniscule in nature, the image of it all stayed with me long after.

For the most part, I enjoyed the opera and would go again if the opportunity arose.