Experience the world’s first virtual reality community opera with Irish National Opera.

‘Opera like you’ve never encountered it before’ – The Irish Times

This award-winning bilingual production reimagines opera for the digital age. With a VR headset, explore a stunning animated world where you can move, interact, and choose your own path through an immersive and evocative experience.

Out of the Ordinary/As an nGnách tells the tale of a community forced to flee their barren homeland, which, due to their own actions, can no longer sustain them. Nalva, our main character, builds a boat to take her people on an epic journey to find a new home. But as they begin their voyage, they don’t realise they are being pursued. Daol, a powerful force of nature, furious at being released from the leached soil, churns up the seas and causes a huge storm, plunging the boat underwater. When Nalva and her people eventually resurface, they find themselves in a new and unfamiliar land. Will they learn to live in harmony with nature, or will they repeat the mistakes of the past? It’s all to play for.

Written by composer Finola Merivale and librettist Jody O’Neill. Directed by Jo Mangan with communities from Inis Meáin, Tallaght and South Dublin. Sung in Irish and English.

Note: This VR experience is unsuitable for those under 14, pregnant, prone to seizures, with pacemakers, serious balance/vision issues, or under the influence of drugs/alcohol.

The experience will run for approximately 30 minutes