A very bizarre mixed media presentation of a new work by Katarzyna Glowicka, sees texts written by four women from The Afghan Women's Writing Project set to music, and using soloists, a string quartet, a dancer, live electronics and a performance space, bring this perculiar experience together. It's part Immersive Theatre, part Installation, part Opera, part live art, and a deliberate breaking down of the tradition barriers.
The piece is curated by Opera Vision and directed by Krystian Lada for the Airport Society with support from The Polish Institute and Nuit Blanche in Brussels, and tries to give a voice and a validity to the poetic works which document the lives and struggles of Afghan women living under Taliban rule. As the advertsing material for this piece suggests, it aims to "give a voice to the voiceless".
Trying to be as objective as I possibly can, then the piece was, at best, experimental and heart-felt. It felt extremely fragmented, and even more so perhaps because it was online and not live. However, the lighting design (Maarten Warfmerdam) was very dim and poor throughout. It might have been 'moody' as an audience member, but from a computer screen it was dim to the point of almost black at times. This didn't help in my understanding or being able to sympathise with the narrative, such as it was.
Undeniably the lyrics - ie, the words of the women, were poignant and relevant. Heartbreakingly real. It is hard to believe that such things are still happening in our enlightened world. Both tragic and pitiful. It was the artistic treatment of these words which was both highly experimental and ultra-modern. I found myself unable to engage with the performance in any meaningful way. It was bizarre and offbeat and the style seemed to be at odds with what the words were saying or trying to convey. Much of the action was very slow, repetitive and deliberate, which again, failed to grab my attention or enthusiasm.
It has to be said however that the music itself was actually quite lyrical and harmonic, taking inspiration from all eras. There were elements of plainchant, elements of Baroque, Classical and Romantic influences, as well as more modern and electronic sounds, but musically it all seemed to work quite well.
Reviewer - Chris Benchley
on - 19/5/20
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