THEATRE
TMUSICAL THEATRE Gravity
Livingston: Howden Park Centre, Tue 30 May then touring.
Few things in life are as evocative as music. A photograph may take you back, but a song can transport you straight into the heart of a memory. The impact music has had on people‘s lives over the past 1000 years forms the basis of a new project by the Edinburgh International Festival. Eager to be seen as more than just a one trick pony, the Festival has cast its net wider than the annual August beanfeast to encompass a year- round programme of events. First up is Music Of The Millennium, a mix of workshops, talks and performances; the highlight of which is Gravity.
Billed as a 'text with music', the show is a collaboration between Edinburgh playwright Zinnie Harris and Georgian composer Marina Adamia. Divided into seven short sections, Gravity takes you on an emotive journey through several of life’s landmark moments.
Pregnancy, the loss of innocence, leaving home, redundancy and death are all covered. But while the settings are contemporary, the emotions are timeless. ’lt’s about finding the things that have always been true about music, rather than the things that are just true now,’ explains Harris. ’The characters are a man, woman and child, but although it's the same three people in each section, they’re very much a kind of
everyman.’
Both Harris and Adamia are keen to emphasise this is not a ’play' in the traditional sense. 'On a set of scales, the text and music are perfectly balanced, rather than in a normal play where the music is purely incidental,’ says Harris. ’The theme that runs throughout is the moment at which music touches your life. It has the ability to take you outside yourself, and Marina has
ADAPTATION
A Clockwork Orange
Edinburgh: King's Theatre, Wed 31 May—Sat 3 Jun.
three droogs, that is Pete, Georgie and Dim, and we sat in the Korova Milkbar
with the evening.’ The opening line of Anthony Burgess’ horror show 1962
66 THE llST 25 May— 8 Jun 2000
’There was me, that is Alex, and my
making up our rassoodocks what to do
novel is still better known as the chillingly dispaSSionate voice-over
Gravity gives us the earth’s experience through music
picked up on that by writing the kind of reflective music which allows the audience space.’
Performed by three actors and a string quartet, all of whom remain on-stage throughout, each piece of text is followed by a movement of music, but it's much more than just a soundtrack to the action. ’The music does take its cue from the text, but only in terms of mood,’ says Adamia. 'lt's not like the cello is the man or the
violin is the woman; it's more abstract. The music
Disgusting, but you’ll fancy him
delivered by Malcolm McDowell as the charismatic teen psychopath in Stanley Kubrick's film adaptation, But Alan Lyddiard, directOr oi Neithern Stage’s touring version ol A Clockwork Orange believes the film’s recent re—release burst the mythical bubble surrounding the tale, freeing up its power and energy for rtew interpretations,
’With our version, everyone was initially intrigued by the fact that it was forbidden fruit because of the film,’
reflects what you’ve seen and maybe leads somewhere you're going to in the next episode.’
The two women's enthusiasm for the project is matched only by their admiration for each other's work. ’The text is incredibly moving, and very profound,’ says Adamia. ‘Oh, but the music is absolutely wonderful,’ laughs Harris. 'I think that will carry it.’ (Kelly Apter)
admits Lyddiard. 'But l’rn not sure the film continues to fascinate as much as it did. I feel that word of mouth about the production more than anything has encouraged people to come.’ Lyddiard argues that Burgess‘ depiction of male Violence, though overshadowed by the controversy of the film, is far from dated. 'I used to go out a lot at irrght in Newcastle. That mass of young male energy that can tip over into Violence was very attractive and sexually strong I decided to use ordinary lads off the street to explore that energy so the production feels immediate and contemporary'
The piece has been nurtured and developed over two years So, how have Lyddiard and co-director Mark Murphy translated that street energy into a specifically theatrical experience? 'Funnily enough we've used a lot of film,’ he says. ’There’s vrdeo footage and very physical dance; big, bold, in- y0ur-face stuff that Visually and emotionally grabs peeple/ Like Kubrick, Lyddiard hasn't flinched from Clockwork’s ambivalent morality. ‘I wanted to create the piece around Alex, from his perspective, I tried to make him as misogynist and disgusting as possible, but I want the audience to come out fancying him.’
(Allan Radcliffe)
i PHYSICAL THEATRE
Sound and Suspension
Edinburgh: St Brides Centre, Thu 8—Sat 10 Jun.
Inverting the USiial hierarchies of theatre, costume artists Jeanette Sendler and Anna Cocciacliferro have established a new concept in performance art With therr' company Metacorpus. 'Usually it’s the costume deSigner who is under the thumb of the drrector,’ says Sencller ’But everything we do is based on the costume artist's concept '
Named after ’irieta' for metamorphosis and ‘cor'pus' for the body, the duo have championed the power of physicality and the idea of costume as an ar‘tform in =tsc'll since 1997. Sound and Suspension takes the auditory world of sound and memory as its theme and sets out not only to promote costume as performance art but also to encourage equal artistic contributions front all disciplir‘:es. ln iiS fusion of choreography, costume, set installation and musical score, the piece aims at creating a rrtultisensoital experience that explores on various levels, the physicai sensation of hearing.
As individually distinct artists, Senciler and Cocciadifer'r‘o bane split the work into two par‘s, performers or 'sctanci 'st a.?ptt:'es '~
short math .‘rrar each (,()l‘.[l'(lSlltl(j pier e The .‘zi‘st tit-(e, hive/ted labyrinth, is (iocctacl'ltt'o's exploratmn of the miter anato'rr‘, :2?’ the ear She is (oriented in a tech'uaf sense with tire lt‘iil'tdfvfl structure ar‘tt the funct'on of tie ear as 'na‘arzc "c; organ. 'lt's not a illttitftlv lessori,‘ site says, 'but It is about ’il8(tl‘.'t‘-'lf".] l' we about what's tll’~l(l(’ tis'
‘v’here ’ oczaacl'te'n; appraar hes ‘.'~ idea of ‘x'IStltli'SH‘t; siltl'rtl ‘mm an anatomical route, the more erriotiorta noss.h.':ttes .‘zwta. flea/inc; .lStlcli'St'\
souncl lion. ‘-.'."'_l1l'z ’B‘e ‘.‘.’{)l! b ar'ci uses
‘sencilei chars .‘uti‘ the e,-.:.~t‘~'rtzi‘,rc~ '1‘ the performers To :ep'esen: ":rivctuai foetuses, lartl (iticztl i set clesrcjru-tt to look like a c tin-3‘. o' work urges .is 'o .rrt
-r t(‘S-.I7‘it\‘,, , e
actine r;tr'se\.«es
immersed an the anir‘wta fluid, to return to the mouth it s-~ .t’er's attempt to “make r‘eop e connect
the self again and then be able to connect with when, and start listei‘ancj' lCclTilt‘llHO Bi'otnleyi
to ‘slfll‘ irisi‘utl
Experiencing the body in costume