Deakin Motion.Lab helps Flying Dutchman set sail for Palais

Ground-breaking 3D scenery developed by Deakin University's Motion.Lab will light up the stage of one of Melbourne's most iconic venues when Victorian Opera's production of Richard Wagner's The Flying Dutchman opens on Saturday.

The Flying Dutchman will be performed at the historic Palais Theatre – best known for rock gigs but once a mainstay of the city's opera landscape during the 1970s – in the largest production staged at the St Kilda venue in several decades.

3D scenery developed by Deakin Motion.Lab will be used to recreate The Flying Dutchman ghost ship and the seas on which it sails.

Audiences will experience this Wagnerian masterpiece through 3D glasses in what has been billed as the one of Australia's most anticipated operatic events for 2015.

The Flying Dutchman is the first of three operas being created as part of a three-year research project funded by the Australian Research Council (ARC) between Deakin Motion.Lab and Victorian Opera.

Five members of the Motion.Lab developed the computer generated scenery using a videogame engine. The images will be projected onto the stage at the Palais by two stereoscopic projectors with polarized filters – the same technology used for 3D movies.

Motion.Lab Director Professor Kim Vincs said: "Digital scenography offers the potential for an enhanced artistic experience, cost savings, and enhanced rural and regional access to quality opera productions.

"We'll be working with Victorian Opera over the next three years to design, develop and test methods for creating digital 3D scenography for traditional and non-traditional theatre venues."

Victorian Opera's Artistic Director Richard Mills said: "We're delighted to begin what will be our tenth year with such a seminal though rarely performed work, and to do so with Deakin Motion.Lab – leaders in the field of digital scenography."

Serving as inspiration for Disney's The Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, The Flying Dutchman is the tale of a captain who made a deal with the devil. Doomed to sail the seas until the end of time, he is only able to come ashore once every seven years in the hope of finding love and breaking the terrible curse.

Featuring the 83-piece Australian Youth Orchestra, The Flying Dutchman will be conducted by Victorian Opera's Artistic Director Richard Mills, and directed by Roger Hodgman. Set and visual design is by Matt Scott and Christina Smith.

The Flying Dutchman at The Palais Theatre: 14, 17, 19 February 2015 – 7:30pm

Tickets $50-$110 or $30 for those 30 and under

Bookings on 136 100 or at www.ticketmaster.com.au