Catherine Bennett resumes the weekly look at the performing arts world, with the sad end of Jerusalem, the luck of a cabbie, and French revolt. Do you hear the people sing?
Adam Alcock reviews Nigel Kennedy playing Vivaldi's Four Seasons and his own Four Elements at York Opera House.
Catherine Bennett highlights the trends in the performing arts world today.
Jonathan Cridford reviews 'Ghosts', one of the Freshers' plays for this year.
The first performance of spring term in the drama barn was certainly eagerly anticipated. The queue stretched around the edge of the barn, a phenomenon ordinarily only seen for an ODN.
A hard show to stage, since it was meant for spectacle, Mingyu Lin and Karmun Sum’s interpretation of David Henry Huang’s M. Butterfly was certainly a valiant attempt. The co-directing, co-producing duo evidently decided to take a Brechtian overview of the script. At times this worked, but only in individual cases, the final Brechtian impression making the audience feel as if your opinion in terms of the plot was being dictated.
Throughout the performance, the actors regularly broke the fourth wall, interacting with the audience and in some cases, what seemed like indulging in ad. Lib. Raza Rizvi however, was impressive in his role as Gallimard since he was able to step out of character and narrate as the style requires. The short scale with which the cast was forced to work meant that lines were evidently learnt under pressure. There were moments where it appeared cast members forgot lines and paused rather longer than necessary, though some allowance for this can be made when the time scale is considered. The two leads especially must have slaved over scripts to learn their parts in under a two week period.
The production had a feeling of storytelling rather than action happening in the present. One potential reason for this could have been the decision made in staging. Each area of the stage represented a different area of Gallimard’s life, which was effective since it clearly depicted his progression over the years. Although the actors were moving from one area to another, the entire play was exceedingly static. This caused some issues with blocking since once a character was in their ‘designated’ place, they remained there and in some cases their face was hidden, either by hair or merely due to the lack of acknowledgement of the audience.
Robert Kodama as Song Liling however, ensured some movement, as did Ella Dolan in her role of Helga, Gallimard’s wife. Robert Kodama’s very controlled gestures created a lyrical quality to his character and made the ambiguity regarding Song Liling’s gender more believable. Similarly, Ella Dolan’s interpretation of Helga added emotion to the performance. Her acting style was much less guarded than many of the cast, making her defintively more accessible as a character and I personally, would have liked Helga’s role to be larger than it was.
The part of Renee was meant to be overtly sexual, as is her character and this was achieved to some extent. Although Emily Farrow certainly looked the part of the promiscuous student, it was frustrating to watch her fail to anticipate her cues, creating pauses in her acting. Part of this may have been due to first night nerves and she certainly improved in the second act when her role became larger.
Overall, this performance was a courageous attempt at a play, where it seemed like everything was against the production team; the time frame and the performance space included. Mingyu Lin and Karmun Sum should still be congratulated since the effort put into making M. Butterfly their own was apparent and even though there are criticisms, it was, nevertheless, a captivating story.
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