Johanna Allen as the baker's wife in State Opera South Australia's Into the Woods

InDaily | Deliciously inefficient: State Opera defiantly pits itself against the age of algorithm

AUGUST 14, 2026 — Edmund Black, InDaily

As State Opera South Australia celebrates its 50th anniversary, the company presents a fairytale-infused double-header, Hansel & Gretel and Into the Woods, directed by Constantine Costi at Her Majesty’s Theatre from 21 August.

In this feature for InDaily’s InReview, Artistic Director Dane Lam speaks with Edmund Black about staging ambitious work in an era of shrinking budgets and digital shortcuts. “There’s something really deliciously inefficient to what we do,” he says of live performance — arguing that replacing musicians with software might be fine for a high school production, but “for commercial and government-funded organisations, it’s an abomination.”

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