MICF 2025: Popera: Sex, Death & Politics Interview (Bronny Lane & Uma Dobiato)
It’s comedy time and the Melbourne International Comedy Festival is back for another year with some fantastic artists. Popera: Sex, Death & Politics is one of those and we catch-up with creative director Bronny Lane and cabaret comedian Uma Dobiato.
‘Popera’ brings opera and modern sensibilities together—what inspired this fusion, and how do these two seemingly different worlds connect?
Uma: Firstly, I love both pop and opera. I’ve always felt like a pop-girl in an opera singer’s body, and loved the crossover of the two styles. I grew up watching Eurovision, and the larger-than-life performances that it showcased. Then as a teenager I discovered Kate Miller-Heidke and there was no looking back! Popera came from the desire to keep opera fresh and fun, and to give me an opportunity to dedicate a show to my first favourite singer, Mariah Carey.
Bronny: I was the class clown and as a kid studying classical piano I loved to make my classmates laugh by singing pop songs in an operatic style, it was just something I did for giggles and transceded into adulthood. I was always obsessed with music and started playing piano at 4 years of age. I always had a radio on tape deck on and would record the top 40 and scour through my parents’ old records. I remember having The Beach Boys on repeat for a while on an old vinyl. It was fun for me to sing pop songs like an opera singer to make my friends laugh. Think “If you want my body and you think I’m sexy” sung as a soprano. When Uma and I met to work on her show Intolerant we had a chat about how we both liked doing that for fun, which led to a larger discussion around pop and opera. I had just finished a rough cut of my comedy feature film and really needed something new and had wanted to direct a theatre piece, this in turn led to the creation of Popera. As one of our song lyrics says “Opera started long ago, the pop music of the day”.
With themes like sex, death, and politics, what made you choose these particular topics to explore in the show? Were they challenging to balance?
Uma: Sex, death and politics is actually a joke in the opera world — it’s what all opera encompasses! So we thought it would be fitting for our first season of Popera to focus on the elements of the operatic canon. The elements of all life really. Ha!
Bronny: well sex sells! But in all seriousness, the running joke in opera is that the diva is always killed off or goes mad, and that most opera encompasses these three subject matters. It seemed like the perfect vehicle for a 3 act structured show!
Is the show more of an emotional journey or a thought-provoking satire? How do you hope audiences will walk away feeling?
Uma: I like to think there’s an emotional journey, especially in the middle section, but it’s predominantly a satire and a reflection on how women have been treated with the music/performance world throughout history. I hope the audience will walk away laughing, and having learnt a thing or two about the divas we all admire.
Bronny: I think it’s a surprising emotional journey and a thought-provoking satire! You possibly come in ready to laugh, and you do laugh, but then we steer the story in a direction where you don’t laugh. because in all seriousness the ageism and misogyny in the industry isn’t funny. This piece reflects both Uma’s and my experience in the industry and I hope people walk away having had a good time but definitely also having learned something. I also hope they will want to go to the Opera.
The title is certainly intriguing—what does ‘Popera: Sex, Death & Politics’ mean to you as its creators?
UMA: Speaking for myself, it’s an opportunity to tackle big themes in a way that’s fun, approachable, and uses all my skills as a performer. The dream! And a lot of that is thanks to Bronny. It’s been a joy co-creating the show with her — I wouldn’t have created something so fun and funny on my own, and we’ve created something unique, playful, and reflective of our own experiences as women in the arts.
BRONNY: For me it means something personal in the sense that I have been able to work firstly with Uma who inspires me and is just incredible to work with. As a performer and co-creator she is incredibly generous. As a Director Uma goes wherever I ask her to, she leans into every silly idea I have and is never shy of trying something new. Secondly, Uma has such an incredible voice that I am inspired to write music. This time in my career is such a time of growth, even though I am a classically trained concert pianist and studied endless composition I had a block and believed although I could play music, and compose when required that I was somehow unable to write music. This of course turned out to be absolute baloney because I’ve now written songs with Uma for Popera and it seems a well has been turned on, after a particularly restless night during Adelaide Fringe, I woke up and wrote 3 new songs for the show! It was meeting Uma that gave me the confidence to write. She allowed me to feel silly, to make mistakes, to try different things and share them and as a result my confidence grew. Now I write things on the piano or omnichord and record them on my phone and send them to Uma or play them for my family and friends! I would never have done that had I never met her. I’ve grown as a musician, a writer, a composer and director and all of that is due to this collaboration with Uma. I feel so blessed that two girls from the Con (Melbourne Uni) from different generations have been able to bridge the gap to create something special that has a deeper message around ageism and misogyny. Working with Uma has allowed me to grow as a creator and for that I will be forever grateful.
How do you tackle heavy or sensitive themes like death and politics while ensuring the show remains engaging and approachable?
UMA: I think humour is the most effective way to tackle anything, so whenever we were in doubt about how best to approach a particular theme we would find a way to make a joke about it! There’s only one section of the show that’s joke-free… and you’ll know it when we get there!
BRONNY: It’s interesting actually because a lot of the comedy I grew up with was all about making jokes about very sensitive issues, and it was kind of part of the coping mechanism like ‘if you don’t laugh you’ll cry’. We tackle those sensitive subjects such as misogyny or ageism in a way that points out injustice but also makes people laugh, I guess we use a ridiculous style of humour with techniques such as satire, deadpan and word play. It’s all in Uma’s delivery which she does spectacularly. Someone described the humour as slapstick and whilst Uma is very physical on stage, I wouldn’t say that it’s slapstick. Satirical yes!
Could you share a moment from the production that has particularly resonated with you, whether through its humour or poignancy?
UMA: One of my favourite parts of the show is right towards the end — it’s a reprise of an earlier song, and sums up both the show’s message and the journey for my character, the Game Show Host. It’s her realisation of her power and agency, and I find it affecting every show.
BRONNY: For me it’s the ballad, I guess because it’s the first song I wrote almost entirely on my own. I wrote the music and the majority of the lyrics and then Uma and I refined the sung melody and some of the words and then Simon produced it for us. But it was the first song I sat at the piano and composed, with lyrics that I then sent off to Uma and seeing how an audience reacts to it, moves me every time. That’s my favorite moment every time because it’s the culmination of all those years of playing the piano, all my study as a kid and Uni student, all those performances and listening to so much music, it’s artistic, and emotional and Uma is beautiful and sings the song with such emotion that usually the audience is just completely quiet at the end to moved to even clap.
Opera has a reputation for being traditional—how do you think this show challenges that notion or brings something fresh to the stage?
UMA: Well, for a start the first full number of the show is a rap about opera, so… there’s nothing traditional about that! We also update quite a lot of operatic lyrics — have you ever heard WAP-ified Rossini? Come to Popera and you will! Then on a more serious note, by highlighting the similarities of pop and opera we’re bringing opera into our contemporary context. Like so many artforms, opera has historically had to justify its existence and its relevance, but it will always be relevant because it so perfectly captures the magnitude of human emotion. We’re just giving it the Mariah/Beyonce/Madonna/Celine treatment. And we add dirty lyrics… A bit of high/low brow always goes down a treat!
BRONNY: I think audiences might expect to come in and experience something of a more operatic performance style. But Popera turns that notion on its head – it’s pop from the get go. The show is pretty rude and we don’t shy away from shocking lyrics in pop songs and putting them in opera. I think audiences are surprised when they realise there’s a fair amount of filthy humour in it. But that’s also part of it, because Opera is not PC, it’s pretty much all sex, death and politics.
What has been the audience’s reaction so far? Have you found people are drawn more to its humour, its depth, or both?
UMA: I think audiences like both aspects! It’s a good balance of humour, with depth and introspection peppered in.
BRONNY: People love it, they always get really involved and by the end they’re usually clapping and singing along and they walk out smiling and usually going up to Uma to tell her how wonderful she is! I think people receive a well rounded experience of fun, emotion, education and then just out right silliness which is all okay!
How do music and performance help elevate or bring new perspectives to these universal themes?
UMA: Music and performance gives us (the universal us, but also Bronny and I specifically) the opportunity to be more playful when discussing these big themes. We can throw in cheeky lines, or musical moments that highlight what we’re trying to say. And the humour is disarming, so audiences are more willing to absorb what we’re telling them because it’s told through jokes. Someone tell the diplomats all they need is a few quick jokes and we can get to world peace…
BRONNY: Music is the universal language and is a continuous artform that is constantly evolving. As musicians and composers we have a duty to our craft to be part of this progression of the music in history. To both keep the old artforms (opera) alive and to help morph new forms (pop). The fact is, what is new today becomes old tomorrow. Opera was once new – now not. Pop is new right now – but I can tell you in one hundred years WAP and Megan the Stallion will be considered old. Music is a great way to share messages and break down barriers and history will always reflect the great music of its time. As creators it’s up to us to find ways to elevate performance and storytelling to share messages that are important to us and hopefully that will then become important to the audience and in turn create some kind of tiny social change.
What do you think this show offers that is unique to the Melbourne International Comedy Festival? How does it stand out from other performances?
UMA: I don’t think anyone will have seen a game show quite as divalicious, or indeed genre-bending, as Popera. It’s dirty, playful, ridiculous, AND you’ll learn something. What’s not to love?!
BRONNY: Whilst it is a gameshow, it’s really a story that’s told through the vehicle of a game show. Audiences will get to enjoy both. A narrative cabaret piece with original music and opera classics whilst also enjoying a game show where they get to come up and be part of the narrative story. They’ll also experience Uma’s incredible talent – she’s brilliant! I think the show is unique because we are attempting to be both story and game show and inviting the audience to be part of that as a kind of choose your own adventure (well not quite but I think that idea actually could be super fun to investigate!).
For more laughs check out Popera: Sex, Death & Politics | Melbourne International Comedy Festival
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