We flew to Adelaide on Saturday the 28th of February for my first Adelaide Arts Festival in years. A decision made when I discovered French actress Isabelle Huppert would be appearing in a one woman play. Over eight days we saw seven shows. This is the order in which we we saw them:
The Cherry Orchard 28/2.
Shadow & Light Anthony Marwood & the ASO – Shostakovich String Quartet No. 2, Vaughn Williams The Lark Ascending 2/3
Ensemble Pygmalian – Monteverdi’s Vespers 2/3
Breath & Bow; Anthony Marwood & ASO – Henri Tomasi’s Fanfare liturgiques, Beethoven’s Septet
Perle Noire: Meditations for Joséphine 3/3
Ensemble Pygmalian – Orfeo 6/3
Mary Said What She Said 7/3
Here’s a little more about each of them – this time in order of preference.
Mary Said What She Said. Directed and designed by Robert Wilson, performed by Isabelle Huppert, written by Darryl Pinckney with music by Ludovico Einaudi
This is the curtain that greeted us when we entered the Festival Theatre. There was an animation involving a rabbit in that box which played on a loop. Mysterious. When Isabelle came out she was standing at the very back of the stage and I thought Oh no I’ve come all this way to see her and I can’t! But as the play progressed she moved further down and we had a good view of everything. Amazing movements of her whole body – arms twisting up, reaching out, tiny mincing footsteps as she flew across and diagonally up and down the stage. All the while speaking sentences all taken from Mary Queen of Scots diaries and letters. I say speaking but she was by turns declaiming, shouting, whispering. Moments of calm interspersed with hysteria, questioning, imploring, laughing. The full gamut of emotions. Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful.
It’s quite hard to describe. She spoke in French and there were English subtitles which could have interfered with our watching the action but there was a lot of repetition of the words so that having read them once you could concentrate on the tiny figure of Isabelle. The play was written especially for her and she performs it around the world. Music and lighting the only accompaniments. The New York Times called it a performance of rarified virtuosity … a marvel to behold. Indeed it was. I’m so pleased to have seen Isabelle in the flesh. She’s amazing. I’m disappointed I didn’t know she was doing a Q&A the next day otherwise I’d have stayed for it but we were already on our way home. Here are three reviews that have pictures and better descriptions – I don’t entirely agree with all of what’s written but I want to recall everything about it. First review. Second review. Third review.
The Cherry Orchard. Directed by Simon Stone, pperformed by an ensemble featuring Emmy nominated Haesoo Park (Squid Game).
I was very doubtful about this having dipped into a bit of Chekhov in anticipation, [see this blog] but it was terrific. We saw it on our first day in Adelaide and hadn’t got into the swing of the festival so we didn’t get a programme. And I didn’t take a picture even before it started. The staging was terrific. Very simple – a house with the wall sheered off (as in an earthquake or bomb) so you could see into all three rooms. A stepped sloping roof gave an extra bit of stage on which the actors could move or sit. Very attractive players. At the start it was a bit hard to work out who was speaking but we got into the swing of it. The declining Russian aristocracy going to seed is replaced by a Korean company mogul and his family who since his death have been letting a once prosperous firm go down the drain. Shades of the television show Succession (which I’ve not seen). It was terrific. Here, including some great pictures of the stage, is a review. And here’s another review.
Perle Noire: Meditations for Joséphine. Director Peter Sellars. Composer Tyshawn Sorey, Singer Julia Bullock
We were in the newly renovated Her Majesty’s Theatre for this performance. A wonderful venue.
And we had, by this time, the wit to pick up a programme. I didn’t know what to expect from what was publicised as a work that shines a light on the life and legacy of Joséphine Bakeer – artist, activist and icon of resistance … who … rose to unprecedented global celebrity in the music halls of Paris and beyond. I knew it was not going to be a simple performance of Baker’s songs which were to be re-imagnined blending opera, jazz, spirituals and raunchy French music hall genres.
The programme foretold the nature of the piece by reference to the influence of Franz Fanon’s work, Black SkinWhite Mask on the writer of the texts, Claudiine Rankine. Especially the concept of double consciousness, interpreted as: whatever Baker meant to the white people in her audience had little to do with how she herself might be feeling. In turn as sung / spoken in the text: I understand that I am a package / that’s been ripped opened / and devoured / like a box of chocolates. There were some confronting scenes especially when Bullock was interpreting Baker’s representation of a black woman on the Parisian stage. I’m not keen on jazz and initially thought I’d not like the music but it really suited the story line. A very simple stage design with a platform in between two lots of musicians. Bullock variously ascended and descended steps leading up to a mirrored wall. The lighting emphasising the difference between the actual person and the image reflected. Terrific. There was a very moving sequence, including beautiful sacred music, as Baker’s interment into the Pantheon in recognition of her resistance work during the Second World War was enacted on stage. Terrific. Here’s a review.
Ensemble Pygmalian – Orfeo
This is a French choir and orchestra celebrating its 20th year. Led by its visionary founder Raphaël Pichon it is known for their unmatched command of Baroque repertoire. This is the second performance which we saw from them. It was in the town hall where, once again, we had terrific seats – which were in the form of iron chairs you’d expect to see in a garden – strange but quite comfortable. Here’s the stage.
We’d seen an Australian Opera production of Orpheus and Eurydice last year in which the singing was wonderful but the staging appalling! This was an Australian premiere of a different version by the Italian composer Luigi Rossi which was lost for centuries. It was beautiful, and beautifully sung. I loved everything about it. I was quite intrigued by some of the baroque instruments – different versions of guitars and double bass and trumpets – and the musicians who played them. Here’s the orchestra after the performance.
And here’s the cast after the performance.
They are so young and stylish – so French! although the role of Orpheus was played by an Australian soprano, seen here in the white trouser suit. There were a few comic bits that I didn’t think worked very well. Afterwards the musicians came into the bar where we were having a late night drink. It was nice to be able to congratulate them for a great performance – something that often happens a lot at Adelaide festival. Here’s a review.
Ensemble Pygmalian – Monteverdi’s Vespers
Our first experience of this French choir and orchestra As promised in the programme their performance of Monteverdi’s Vespers in St Peter’s Cathedral was an extraordinary blend of energy and excellence. It was sung in latin but we had our own lyric sheets.
The different soloists cam forward and sang just in front of the stage on little platforms to make themselves seen and from time to time various members of the choir moved to the back of the nave and some were placed behind the stage in the altar area. It was all rather magnificent. As I said above I was intrigued by some of the instruments, including this sole example of this one.
And this one – of which there were two.
Both of the performances we saw of this group were wonderful. It’s their first tour of Austalia. Here’s a review.
Shadow & Light Anthony Marwood & the ASO – Shostakovich String Quartet No. 2, Vaughn Williams The Lark Ascending
This performance was held in the Elder Hall – a small but very fine venue in the grounds of the university. It’s a bit unfair to put Anthony last out of all the performances because he was terrific in both of these performances. I loved them both but especially the Vaughan Williams – such a beautiful music and so expertly played. I hadn’t heard of him. He’s British but has been out to Adelaide a lot I think. The programme says he has a special relationship with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra. He was wonderful. I thought he looked a bit like Roald Dahl. He’s very tall. Here’s a review.
Breath & Bow; Anthony Marwood & ASO – Henri Tomasi’s Fanfare liturgiques, Beethoven’s Septet
I wasn’t as keen on these pieces of music which was at our second excursion into the Elder Hall. Obviously the musicians were as good as ever but I wasn’t keen on the pieces.
Overall what a wonderful start to the year seeing all of these performances – about four month’s worth of culture over a few days. Quite wonderful!
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