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What's Up Christchurch
31 January ·
What's Up Christchurch reviewer Brett Johansen went to Ars Acustica, an avant-garde theatrical music fair in the woods, and discovered a series of unexpected, occasionally hilarious and occasionally disturbing twists.
Ars Acustica
Directed by Peter Falkenberg
The Free Theatre in collaboration with the CSO
21 January - 2 February
Seven Oaks School
Reviewing a performance like Ars Acustica is difficult, because all the adjectives that immediately come to mind have been used already to describe shows and concerts. Words like “uncompromising,” “mesmerising” “avant-garde” “baffling” and “transcendent” have been bandied about when discussing experimental music and dance already, such that they bring to mind a caricature of old men in turtlenecks, scratching their chins over some incomprehensible production or another.
These words are therefore no longer of so much use to describe the walk through Waldheim at Seven Oaks in Waltham I took last night, featuring the works of Mauricio Kagel and John Cage with performers from Free Theatre and the CSO. The tone is set at the entrance, where each of the audience are implored by a surreal health and safety message to apply some of the complimentary insect repellent and take care while traversing the undergrowth. The first half of the performance involves a walk through the rich and wonderfully disheveled Seven Oaks grounds. The way the light of the setting sun, the sound and presence of the trees, grass and abandoned greenhouses are harnessed is wonderful, and proves an inspiring setting for the presentation of atonal, dissonant and aurally challenging music. The compositions performed make far more sense in this context than they might if dialled up on spotify while driving your car; the space allows the sound and heat of the summer evening in the city to become a part of the music and performance, and we are reminded of the constant tension between dissonance and harmony in the everyday.
The evening was a constant stream of unexpected, occasionally hilarious and occasionally disturbing twists; without giving too much away, the audience is led from the open air to a seated space, via a disorienting transition, for the conclusion of the performance. The ensemble and dancers continue to evoke terror, dissonance and wonder in their performance of Kagel and Cage’s compositions. It was tempting to drop in another one of those tired adjectives and call Ars Acustica an otherworldly experience, but on reflection it was very much of this world, this city, and a thorough exploration of some of the parts we might rarely visit in our day to day.
Originally posted on What's Up ChCh Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/WhatsUpChristchurch/
What's Up Christchurch
31 January ·
What's Up Christchurch reviewer Brett Johansen went to Ars Acustica, an avant-garde theatrical music fair in the woods, and discovered a series of unexpected, occasionally hilarious and occasionally disturbing twists.
Ars Acustica
Directed by Peter Falkenberg
The Free Theatre in collaboration with the CSO
21 January - 2 February
Seven Oaks School
Reviewing a performance like Ars Acustica is difficult, because all the adjectives that immediately come to mind have been used already to describe shows and concerts. Words like “uncompromising,” “mesmerising” “avant-garde” “baffling” and “transcendent” have been bandied about when discussing experimental music and dance already, such that they bring to mind a caricature of old men in turtlenecks, scratching their chins over some incomprehensible production or another.
These words are therefore no longer of so much use to describe the walk through Waldheim at Seven Oaks in Waltham I took last night, featuring the works of Mauricio Kagel and John Cage with performers from Free Theatre and the CSO. The tone is set at the entrance, where each of the audience are implored by a surreal health and safety message to apply some of the complimentary insect repellent and take care while traversing the undergrowth. The first half of the performance involves a walk through the rich and wonderfully disheveled Seven Oaks grounds. The way the light of the setting sun, the sound and presence of the trees, grass and abandoned greenhouses are harnessed is wonderful, and proves an inspiring setting for the presentation of atonal, dissonant and aurally challenging music. The compositions performed make far more sense in this context than they might if dialled up on spotify while driving your car; the space allows the sound and heat of the summer evening in the city to become a part of the music and performance, and we are reminded of the constant tension between dissonance and harmony in the everyday.
The evening was a constant stream of unexpected, occasionally hilarious and occasionally disturbing twists; without giving too much away, the audience is led from the open air to a seated space, via a disorienting transition, for the conclusion of the performance. The ensemble and dancers continue to evoke terror, dissonance and wonder in their performance of Kagel and Cage’s compositions. It was tempting to drop in another one of those tired adjectives and call Ars Acustica an otherworldly experience, but on reflection it was very much of this world, this city, and a thorough exploration of some of the parts we might rarely visit in our day to day.
Originally posted on What's Up ChCh Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/WhatsUpChristchurch/
