le grand macabre - press - valentina · pdf filele grand macabre - synopsis staging ......

LE GRAND MACABRE- Press

LE GRAND MACABRE - Synopsis

LE GRAND MACABRE Artistic Director

Grotesque, bizarre and extravagant are adjectives frequently applied to contemporary creation and that is not surprising when we realize that the presence of the carnal body, as opposed to the idealized, canonical body, is one of its main subjects. Mikhaïl Bakhtine spoke of the grotesque body as a

codes, the body as bas matériel: gluttony, scatology,

philosopher and thinker Julia Kristeva as being composed of orifices, viscera and fluids. The inside of our bodies, so utterly forgotten by centuries of Cartesian rationality, is now displayed and questioned. The subversion of the grotesque returns. This is the territory explored by Le grand macabre, where paradoxically tragedy and laughter coincide. La Fura dels Baus and Valentina Carrasco have created a staging based on the great metaphor that is the human body. A large figure presides over the scene and its curves and orifices offer a new setting for the performance. Le Grand Macabre debuted on March 26th, 2009 at the Theatre de l Opera de in Brussels.

Alex Ollé is one of the 6 artistic directors of La Fura dels Baus, one of the more prestigious and innovative theatre companies from the Spanish scene founded in 1979 and since then well known for researching its own language where the interaction with the audience is an essential part for the development of the performance. Fom the early period we can point up the shows Accions (1983), Suz o Suz (1985), Tier Mon (1988), Noun (1990) and M:T:M (1994) that consolidated La Fura dels Baus as a cult group for the audience and the press.

Within the text theatre, Alex Ollé has directed four shows: Faust 3.0 (1998), XXX (2004) based on the Philosophy in the boudoir

by Marquis de Sade (both in collaboration with Carlus Padrissa) and recently and on its own, Metamorfosis in collaboration with Javier Daulte- based on the novel of Franz Kafka, and Boris Godunov in collaboration with David Plana-. The early works of Alex Ollé in the opera and in collaboration with Carlus Padrissa were Atlantida, from Manuel de Falla and The Martyr of Sant Sebastián from Claude Debussy. Afterwards The Damnation of Faust from Hector Beriloz, that was premiere at the Salzburg Festival in 1999; DQ, Don Quijote en Barcelona, with music from José Luis turina and libretto from Justo Navarro, a production of the Gran Teatro del Liceo in Barcelona;

Magic Flute presented in the Rühr Biennal in coproduction with Opera de Paris and the Teatro Real in Madrid; Bluebeard Castle Journal

coproduced by Opera Garnier de Paris and Gran Teatro del Liceo in Barcelona.

LE GRAND MACABRE Technical Specifications

Musical Direction Leo Hussain Concept Alex Ollé (La Fura dels Baus) & Valentina Carrasco Scene Direction Alex Ollé collaborating with Valentina Carrasco Scenery Alfons Flores Costume Designer Lluc Castells Video Franc Aleu Illumination Peter van Praet Choir Direction Piers Maxim Directors Assistant Tine Buyse Cast Piet the Pot: Chris Merritt Amando: Frances Bourne Amanda: Ilse Eerens Nekrotzar: Werner Van Mechelen Astradamors: Frode Olsen Mescalina: Ning Liang Venus: Barbara Hannigan Prince Go-Go: Brian Asawa White Minister: Eberhard Francesco Lorenz Black Minister: Martin Winkler Gepopo, Chief of the Secret Police: Barbara Hannigan Coproduced by: Théâtre de la Monnaie, Teatro della Opera di Roma, English National Opera and the Gran Teatre del Liceu. Cast from the debut in Brussels.

LA MONNAIE - BrusselsFrom 24th March to 5th April 2009

OPERA DI ROMAFrom 18th to 23th June 2009

ENGLISH NATIONAL OPERAFrom 17th Sept. to 9th Oct. 2009

ENO's Season Opener is Brilliantly Grotesque By Keith Clarke MusicalAmerica.com September 21, 2009 LONDON It is 27 years since English National Opera gave the U.K. premiere of György

The set for that first British performance, if memory serves, was nothing but an elevated highway, slashing at an angle from one side to the other of a totally black stage. The set for this new production, which opened at the London Coliseum on Sept. 17, is also likely to become a talking point for years to come. It was designed by Alfons Flores, who regularly works with director Calixto Bieito. In an opening film sequence by video designer Franc Aleu, a woman grazes on the debris of fast-food meals, apparently suffering a massive heart attack. At that moment, the curtain rises to show her giant body rendered in fiberglass and sprawled across the stage, dominating the entire space. The mouth is gaping, the eyes staring. As the story progresses this extraordinary set twists and flexes, characters appearing and exiting through eye sockets, nipples, anus. More than this, some very clever projection transforms the body, turning it into a highly convincing skeleton or consuming it with fire. Against this backdrop and in it, on it and around it the human race is depicted in all its ugliness, hedonism, fatuousness and despair. The plot concerns the wild excesses of a people who are led to believe that their world is to be destroyed by a comet at midnight. Ligeti took as inspiration for the piece two paintings that he had seen on a visit to Madrid ymus

and images from both litter the production. The nightmare vision is darkly captured and the black humor beautifully pointed up by the

pany La Fura dels Baus. The choice of the work as a season opener raised a few eyebrows and drew the traditional

piece from the Daily Telegraph. But having turned the corner from its own dark and macabre period in the wilderness, ENO can afford to make bold gestures. It is also feeling confident in its role as an international collaborator. The new production has been forged among no fewer than four houses. It has already been seen at La Monnaie, Brussels, and the Teatro dell'Opera in Rome, and after London it will play the Liceu in Barcelona and later the Adelaide Festival. There are six performances at the London Coliseum not bad for a controversial work, but then it has had 25 different productions since its 1978 premiere and one in the U.S. Despite its lack of appeal for maiden aunts and those of a delicate sensibility (a scatological litany at

depicts the human condition with such directness, stripped of artifice, and that was well conveyed in this production, as was the essential black humor of the piece. For the comet is no more of a real threat than the delusional Grand Macabre himself, and just as the people of Breughelland are spared extinction, the woman from the opening sequence recovers in a final filmed sequence, flushing a lavatory not a heart attack, we are led to believe, just a spot of gastric discomfort. If the singers deserved awards for coping with the vertiginous set, they also turned in first-class vocal and dramatic performances. Austrian tenor Wolfgang Ablinger-Sperrhacke was a virtuosic Piet the Pot, Susan Bickley a winning Mescalina and Pavlo Hunka a strong Nekrotzar, the Grand Macabre. Norwegian bass Frode Olsen made his ENO debut as the woefully hen-pecked Astradors, and counter-tenor Andrew Watts shone as Prince Go-Go. Also in a cast without a single weak link were Susanna Andersson, Daniel Norman and Simon Butteriss. In the pit was Baldur Brönnimann, who conducted ENO's award-at the Young Vic. He kept a tight pace, the ENO Orchestra playing superbly, delivering both the pungent clamor and the quietly ethereal. The weird and wonderful costumes for this extravaganza are by Lluc Castells, and the lighting by Peter van Praet, who has fun conjuring up everything from the smoky and hellish interior of the woman's body to the bright sparkling heavens above.

stunning performance showed ENO at its best confident, professional and back on top of its game. Further performances: Sep. 22, 25, Oct. 1, 3, 9 www.eno.org Copyright © 2009, Musical America

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