Like Dorothy, I also had a strong response to the first moments of the opera, when Don Giovanni "seduces" Donna Anna. I came to this performance with no background information, and I'm taking Dorothy's word that the staging we saw was unusual (and after seeing the opera, I'm pretty convinced). So what I saw was not immediately unsettling- a guy sneaks into a woman's room and they have a confusing sexual encounter. I'm not sure she's enjoying herself- I'm not sure that he is, either. I won't get into how hilarious I found the staging (It was like he was eating a peanut off of her collarbone!) but at least I think I know what's going on, and that it is, at moments, consensual.
Until Donna Anna tells us that this man raped her. Now, I place a great deal of importance on the primacy of text, even in opera, so I want to believe her. I think, well, if Mozart says this woman was raped, and the director implies otherwise, who am I gonna side with? I start re-assessing every moment I've seen until this one, trying to parse out the issue of consent- and then I realize that several minutes have passed and I haven't heard a single word said onstage. I'm too busy wondering if I'm watching an opera about a suave lothario or a serial rapist.
I also found myself riled up whenever I knew that I was missing text. I knew certain lines were omitted so that the audience didn't have to constantly scan up to the supertitles. But it annoys me when I know that I'm missing things. That was my overall experience of the opera- feeling like I was constantly missing something. Cavell says that "the task of the dramatist is to gather us and then to silence and immobilize us." Personally, I felt like I was only gathered. I couldn't be transported because my mind wouldn't be immobilized.
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