Quite frankly, piano lessons when i was a child were traumatic to say the least, so the phrase Every Good Boy Deserves Favour (a reference to the mnemonic to remember the notes of the treble clef) makes me think of shirking practice, witches teaching me music theory, draconian lesbian piano teachers and sitting on piano stools in too short school uniform skirts so that my thighs stuck to the stool's leather and my skin made a terrible ripping sound as i stood up to leave when the final bell rang. still, the play was great - and at £10, and 1hr length, just my kind of production. with a script by Tom Stoppard and a score for full, on-stage orchestra by Andre Previn, it concerns itself with the fate of two men incarcerated in a Russian madhouse. one because he is mad, and imagines that an orchestra is constantly playing the theme tune to his life, and the other because he is a political dissident whose anti-establishment views make him 'insane' in that they are the opposite of the 'norm'. The sane and mad worlds of each inmate collide, and the doctor in charge of both is equally diffident about the condition of each - he insouciantly pleads with them to admit they are wrong about their opinions with the incentive of freedom as a reward. it's like Catch 22 crossed with Her Naked Skin (Rebecca Lenkiewicz's play staged in same theatre last year about suffragettes who were also imprisoned for their opinions). if i've made it sound at all pompous and pretentious, that's my fault, and it's not. it's funny and physical and totally unlike anything i've ever seen. the action takes place in and around the orchestra, initially in neatly sectioned off areas, but increasingly more haphazardly in amongst the continuously playing orchestra, whose music exacerbates the mood. the lines between sanity and insanity, music and reality, conversation and dissonance become blurred and eventually there's a crazily choreographed balletic scene where members of the orchestra start to riot. it's incredible to watch, the slow unleashing of madness through music. very strange, but very witty and very powerful. with £10 seats, it's a no brainer if you ask me.
Wednesday, 25 February 2009
Every Good Boy Deserves Favour
Quite frankly, piano lessons when i was a child were traumatic to say the least, so the phrase Every Good Boy Deserves Favour (a reference to the mnemonic to remember the notes of the treble clef) makes me think of shirking practice, witches teaching me music theory, draconian lesbian piano teachers and sitting on piano stools in too short school uniform skirts so that my thighs stuck to the stool's leather and my skin made a terrible ripping sound as i stood up to leave when the final bell rang. still, the play was great - and at £10, and 1hr length, just my kind of production. with a script by Tom Stoppard and a score for full, on-stage orchestra by Andre Previn, it concerns itself with the fate of two men incarcerated in a Russian madhouse. one because he is mad, and imagines that an orchestra is constantly playing the theme tune to his life, and the other because he is a political dissident whose anti-establishment views make him 'insane' in that they are the opposite of the 'norm'. The sane and mad worlds of each inmate collide, and the doctor in charge of both is equally diffident about the condition of each - he insouciantly pleads with them to admit they are wrong about their opinions with the incentive of freedom as a reward. it's like Catch 22 crossed with Her Naked Skin (Rebecca Lenkiewicz's play staged in same theatre last year about suffragettes who were also imprisoned for their opinions). if i've made it sound at all pompous and pretentious, that's my fault, and it's not. it's funny and physical and totally unlike anything i've ever seen. the action takes place in and around the orchestra, initially in neatly sectioned off areas, but increasingly more haphazardly in amongst the continuously playing orchestra, whose music exacerbates the mood. the lines between sanity and insanity, music and reality, conversation and dissonance become blurred and eventually there's a crazily choreographed balletic scene where members of the orchestra start to riot. it's incredible to watch, the slow unleashing of madness through music. very strange, but very witty and very powerful. with £10 seats, it's a no brainer if you ask me.
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