Climate activists from Extinction Rebellion (XR) interrupted the opening night revival of Tannhäuser, an 1845 German opera by Richard Wagner at Manhattan’s Metropolitan Opera House on November 30. The activists aimed to draw attention to the environmental degradation of Earth’s water resources.
Activists entered the scene during a performance which was four-and-a-half-hour, that took place in the second act, the protagonist Heinrich Tannhäuser, played by Andreas Schager, was interrupted. It happened at about 9:30 pm, while the characters were singing about a natural spring. Three protesters seated in the third-level balconies on either side of the theater unfurled two banners that read “No Opera on a Dead Planet” and began chanting that the spring had been tainted due to climate change.
“Our oceans are dying. We must end fossil fuels,” yelled one of the activists stationed in the left balcony. “There is no opera on a dead planet, no food on a dead planet, no art on a dead planet.” The action was immediately met with mixed reactions from operagoers, with many audience members booing the disruption while others applauded the demonstration.
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