“The Wake World is 017’s glamorous swan song, and very much An Event. Director R. B. Schlather makes exceptionally imaginative use of the Barnes space and even its audience—this is site-specific theater as it should be.”

—  Philadelphia Magazine

“Director R. B. Schlather has realized this otherworldly rite of passage as miraculously executed immersive theatre. I have never seen this sort of interplay work so well, engaging without being demanding, spontaneous yet rehearsed within an inch of its life. Mysterious. Challenging. Moody. Risky. Enriching. What an inspiring night in the theatre.”

– Opera Today

“R. B. Schlather, one of young opera’s leading lights, presents the chamber opera at the Barnes Foundation, atmosphere that was equal parts performance art, ambush theater, and bacchanal… a bona fide event.”

— Broad Street Review

“The notion of what opera can be may have been jostled even more by David Hertzberg’s The Wake World, based on a fairy tale by Aleister Crowley. The performers, directed by R. B. Schlather, often walked amid attendees, who sat, stood and milled about. (Talk about engaging your audience.)”

— New York Times