Royal Lyceum Theatre
four stars
The natural world in
all its glory is celebrated in Meredith Monk's remarkable
seventy-five minute dramatic meditation performed by her and her
nine-strong Vocal Ensemble for Monks return to Edinburgh
International Festival. With a live marimba-led score which moves
from rhythmic codas to frantic little bursts of out-of-wackness, Monk
and co flap around the stage in set-pieces of unadorned Zen
choreography, chirruping in call and response harmony as they go.
With the performers
dressed in what looks like pioneer-type outfits, at times their
gambolling looks like a hoe-down in Eden. At other, more intimate
moments., their propless mimesis flutters into being with a stark
beauty. There are solos, duos and ensemble-based miniatures, each one
an impressionistic thumbnail sketch of birds, trees, bees and other
wildlife rendered in physical terms occasionally upended by outside
forces.
There are clear
parallels here, both thematically and stylistically, with Philip
Glass' score for Koyaanisquatsi, Godfrey Reggio's big screen
meditation on the relationship between the natural world and the big
bad city. In Monk's hands, however, such concerns are rendered
through a combinatioin of dance, music and a kind of physical calm
that soothes and heals a wounded planet even as it reasserts its
place within it.
A filmed back-drop
shows all of Mother Nature's wonders, from flowers and animals to the
sheer joy of a couple kissing in the most natural, non-virtual act on
the planet. The bells that peal at the close of play aren't a
memoriam. Rather, they are sounding out the quietest call to arms for
every man, woman and child to get back to nature and start living
right again.
The Herald, August 20th 2013
ends
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