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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/
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  • HOME
  • ABOUT
    • A brief history...
    • Jarry, Ubu, Pataphysics and Free Theatres
    • Manifestos and Writings
    • Who We Are
    • Shirley Horrocks documentary
    • Training and Devising
    • Home, Space and Design
    • Praise and Awards
  • Te Puna Toi
    • Past Te Puna Toi Projects
    • Artists in Residence
  • UPCOMING
    • The Tempest
    • Woyzeck
  • EDUCATION
    • Kidsfest and Holiday Programmes
    • Schools Workshops
    • Adult workshops
  • ARCHIVE
    • Productions 1979 - present >
      • The Axe
      • Endgame
      • Digitising Performance
      • Erewhon: Over the Range
      • A Summer Night's Dream
      • How Dare You
      • A Winter's Tale
      • Ubu Nights >
        • Past Ubu Nights >
          • Ma Ubu Night
          • Ubu Through the Looking Glass
          • Ubu in Wonderland Ubu Night
          • Frankenstein Ubu Night
          • Casablanca Ubu Night
          • Faust Ubu Night
          • Not Hamlet Ubu Night
          • Punk Ubu Night
          • The Art of the Deal Ubu Night
          • Crossroads Ubu Night
          • Ubu Shows Us the Way to Brecht's Whiskey Bar
          • The Devil and the Blues Ubu Night
          • Bowie Ubu Night
          • Warhol Ubu Night
          • Berlin Kabarette
          • Beat Ubu Night
          • Twin Peaks Ubu Night
          • David Lynch Ubu Night
          • Kafka Ubu Night
          • Tango Ubu Night
          • Ubu Ubu Night
          • Lovecraft Ubu Night
      • Ars Acustica
      • Alice
      • The Black Rider
      • Frankenstein
      • The Mauricio Kagel Project
      • Te Puna Toi 2015: Footprints/Tapuwae
      • Kafka's Amerika
      • The Soldier's Tale
      • Canterbury Tales
      • I Sing the Body Electric
      • Hereafter
      • Passion, Pulse and Power
      • The Earthquake in Chile
      • Doctor Faustus
      • The Marvellous Corricks >
        • Corricks - Credits
      • Distraction Camp
      • Remake
      • Ella and Susn
      • Free Theatre - 25 years and counting...
      • Faust Chroma
      • Enigma Emmy Goering/Nico Sphinx of Ice
      • Faust Feast
      • Diana Down Under
      • Philoctetes >
        • Production Credits - Piloctetes
      • Fantasia
      • Christmas Shopping
      • Grimm's Sleeping Beauty
      • Achternbusch in the Antipodes
      • Caucasian Chalk Circle
      • Samson Airline
      • Kabarett Kabul
      • Footprints/Tapuwae
      • Last Days of Mankind
      • Medea
      • Bakkhai / Diotek
      • Krapp's Last Tape
      • Murderer Hope of Women / The Philosopher's Stone
      • Comrade Savage
      • Love on a Bicycle
      • Resolution Island
      • Songs for the Judges
      • Crusoe
      • Oedipus Rex/Oedipus at Colonus
      • States of Shock
      • Empire Builders
      • Yes
      • Power
      • Robinson Crusoe: Or I THat Was Born To Be My Own Destroyer
      • Newsbites
      • Dumped in Space
      • MedeaMaterial
      • Salome
      • Electra
      • Sphinx and Strawmen
      • The Girl Who Sings Waterfalls
      • Hamletmachine
      • Oresteia
      • A Respectable Wedding
      • Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant
      • Double Act and Postponeless
      • Cloudkiwiland
      • Preversions
      • G.O.P. Helpomatic
      • The Mortal Pleasure of Wander Lust
      • Red Cross & Takeaway
      • Lulu Earth Spirit
      • The Meeting
      • Action / Tongues
      • Cowboy Mouth
      • The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny
      • A Letter from L
      • Dinosaurs and All the Rubbish / The Hunting of the Snark
      • The Ride Across Lake Constance
      • Electra
      • In Three Minds
      • The Rapist Over Suzannah
      • 1984: The Future Is Now
      • Leonce and Lena
      • Kabernette
      • The Joffongract
      • My Foot, My Tutor
      • King Lear
      • King Ubu
      • Jazz Cellar Dada / Heavy Metal Cabaret
      • Kabarett
      • Black Cat Cabaret
      • The Gas Heart/Ox on the Roof/The Mirror Wardrobe One Fine Evening
      • Round Dance
      • Woyzeck
      • Make-up Ground down / Texts for Decomposition
      • Court Case: Arts Centre vs Free Theatre
    • Image Gallery 1979 - present
    • TV3 Clips
    • Selected Reviews
  • SUPPORT
  • BLOG