There’s An Opera For A Chinese RPG This Saturday

Australia doesn’t typically get into the business of hosting stage productions for video games. And there certainly hasn’t been a lot of collaboration between opera, video games and augmented reality. But this weekend, Sydney is getting a dose of all three.

It’s a stage production for A Legend of Sword, one of the longest running RPG franchises in China and Taiwan, and it’s coming to Sydney’s Lyric Theatre this Saturday. That’s unusual enough as is – the Lyric Theatre, let alone any Sydney theatre, doesn’t typically host anything remotely related to video games.

Making this extra special is the fact that the Legend of Sword production will lean on augmented reality throughout the show. “[To] achieve the augmented reality effects, there are a number of layers of screens on the stage that animate various elements – from the environment to 3D characters,” Ice Liang, producer of The Legend of Sword said in a press release.

There’s only two shows being held, one at 1:30 PM Saturday Sydney time and another at 7:30 PM. The cheapest seats left, in the dress circle, will set you back $50 a pop. If you want a closer view of opera meets AR meets China’s World of Warcraft, you can pay up to $170. There were three seats left in the first row at the time of writing, but who knows how long those will be around. (Regular seats in the stalls start from $80.)

My partner’s officially moving into my place on Saturday, so unfortunately I’ll be out of action. But if anyone has already scooped up tickets, or plans to do so, let us know. It sounds awfully interesting, even to someone who has no experience with the franchise whatsoever.