"Matt Powell’s video designs were brilliantly judged, highlighting the contrast between the lifeless banality of this commercial place of ‘departure’ and the potential grandeur of human flights of fancy – whether providing a visual turbo-boost to the travellers’ excitement when the plane carrying the Minskman away from his wife took off; drawing us into the driving rain of the lightning storm which grounds the sky traffic; or, conjuring the stars, constellations and fantastical realms that soar above that tempest." Opera Today
"impressive lighting and video effects...The collective brilliance of Matt Powell (video designer), Nicky Shaw (designer), and James Whiteside (lighting designer) cannot be understated here. Succeeding in creating a tastefully postmodernist scene, the terminal replete with a gray-tiled tower, viewing station, and “wall” which then turned into a window of sorts where a series of realer-than-real projections were cast onto it, was a brilliant way at playing with technology in a non-obtrusive, and (dare I say) exclusively NON-Glassian style. Without forcing it onto the audience, the interpolation of relatability with the fantastic helped bridge the gap created in operatic theater, the “suspension of disbelief” starving many productions of allegorical impact due to the disunification of life and art. From planes taking off to planes landing, electrical storms, and angel wings, colored galaxies, and billowy clouds passing through a blue sky, I felt like the entire gamut of effects were being used to create a performance suitable for the modern, drama-voracious operatic audience.." Opera Today