An Opera starring Barbie
Googling for information about Jennifer Walshe’s opera can be unpleasant, given its title XXX_Live_Nude_Girls. But hearing what little girls are capable of doing to their dolls is not necessarily agreeable either.
While finishing her Ph.D. in composing in 2002, the Irish composer Jennifer Walshe was inspired to create the work she has described as «the highlight of my career so far»: XXX Live Nude Girls.
The opera, where Barbie dolls are used as marionettes, has since been played in London, Dresden, Vienna and other European cities. This fall at Ultima, she and the British ensemble Apartment House takes the opera to Kulturkirken Jakob in Oslo.
Walshe did a lot of interviews with girls and women beforehand and was shocked to find out what terrible things little girls are capable of doing to their Barbie dolls.
– The Barbie dolls are burned, they have orgies… They also pretend the Barbie doll is pregnant, but doesn’t want her baby, she told BBC Radio 4.
Walshe believes this challenges our stereotypical views on how girls and boys play.
– Adults tend to think that girls’ playing with dolls is something innocent, positive and non-aggressive, and that boys are more violent because their playing is more noisy. But girls’ play isn’t positive or non-aggressive, neither is it innocent. Girls do all kinds of things that we don’t recognise culturally.