Deconstruction in theatre is nothing new, and has probably been around for much longer than people would suppose. Certainly taking hold in the 1950s in England and enjoying popularity in the 1970s until it fell once again out of favour. In Northern Europe the style is still more regularly used and enjoyed than it is here. Deconstruction in music is a little more difficult to define, since any critical analysis of a piece of music could be said to be a literary deconstruction of it. Deconstructing the music note by note or instrument by instrument is something else altogether.
Michael Pinchbeck didn't quite go that far in this evening's devised production of 'Concerto', but instead chose to mix many techniques of contemporary theatre practice into the pot to bring about an 80 minute non-stop "performed lecture" about the background to the writing of Ravel's Concerto For The Left Hand. An informative and well-researched historical background as well as Ravel's own feelings and well-being were put forward, as we met not just Maurice Ravel, and leant more about the man as well as the composer, but also Paul Wittgenstein, the Austrian pianist and reason for the composition, and perhaps even more surprisingly, we also met Gavrilo Princip, the young 19 year old nationalist who assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand and thus kick-starting the first World War. A very interesting case was put forward that this event is inextricably linked to Wittgenstein's losing of his right arm, and the subsequent composing of the concerto by Ravel.
This style of production is very difficult to emote to in any real way though as devices such as Alienation Effect, Metatheatre, and audience manipulation were used throughout, with the characters going about their performance in a non-naturalistic way displaying as little emotion as they could. The audience were invited at several points to join in with creating some of the musical sounds, by tapping pencils, crunching apples, tearing pieces of manuscript, and even becoming a battalion of soldiers during one war sequence. Yet, not at any point during this did we ever feel that we were part of the production, we were still 'alienated' by it.
The final 10 minutes of the production saw pianist Nicholas McCarthy play a section of the Ravel concerto (without any orchestral backing), and we could hear the piano part on its own, something which I assume most of us would never hear, since when listening to the concerto, we are listening to the whole orchestra, not just singling out the one instrument. I think though I would have preferred McCarthy to have been playing sections of the concerto live throughout the whole performance, I think this would have carried more weight and more poignancy than what was actually used.. pre-recorded music - and from what I heard it was mostly not the concerto - as background to the story-telling.
My one overriding concern with this modern style of theatrical presentation is audibility and clarity of diction. This is an issue I feel extremely strongly about, and when the actors this evening were speaking through the microphones, they were audible but not necessarily crystal clear; however when speaking unamplified they were not able to project their voices sufficiently and it was only a small auditorium. However, that notwithstanding, it was an experimental type of production which would never attract mainstream attention, but proved to be an interesting and entertaining enough diversion for the duration of the performance.
Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 1/11/19
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