Camden Theatre Review: Pierrot Lunaire

Publications by New Journal Enterprises

Home

Archive

Competition

The Review - THEATRE by JOHN COURTNEY O'CONNOR
Published: 21 August 2008

Mime’s Irish stew offers a cornucopia of delights

PIERROT LUNAIRE
Oxford Arms Pub

THE aptly-named Cornucopia Theatre Company present a mime opera for the Camden Fringe Festival at the Etcetera Theatre in the heart of Camden Town. The position of the venue adds resonance to the company’s claim to “Tell Urban Stories of a Forceful Present and a Fabled Past”.
A talented troupe is dressed and made to resemble Pierrot performers, with more than a dash of the Commedia dell’Arte, in this exotic “Irish Stew” of a production. Pierrot costumes and the conventions of the English seaside show were thought to be antiquated until Joan Littlewood used the format for her anti-materialistic review Oh! What a Lovely War.
Accompanied by a five-piece orchestra,conducted by Andrew Charity, the Irish opera singer Gráinne Gillis performs vocally in German and French, with poems by Albert Giraud.
The physical troupe unfold their urban tales through mime which creates visual metaphors and ironic caricatures.
I especially liked the Apache “dance to death” routine in the restaurant scene, with its inevitable knife fight, performed by moustachioed Nicky de Neumann and director/performer Mark Duncan.
Other pieces echoed Jean Genet and the Theatre of the Absurd while the tale with robbers and the bishop’s mitre (reflecting shifting power structures) was reminiscent of Spanish anarchist film-maker Luis Buñuel’s Viridiana – with its black parody of The Last Supper, to the strains of Handel’s Messiah.
Pierrot Lunaire is an enchanting piece of physical theatre (including puppetry and a score by Arnold Schoenberg) with striking costumes and superlative make-up by Annalouise. The troupe is comprised of “The Amazing Arlecchino”, Francesca Roche, Chiaro Depalo, Shaggy, the dog with wagging tail, and a mysterious ball of white wool.
In rep as part of the Camden Fringe until August 24
For more events at the Camden Fringe go to www.camdenfringe.org

Comment on this article.
(You must supply your full name and email address for your comment to be published)

Name:

Email:

Comment:

» A-Z of Theatre
» Local Reviews
» Local Listings
» West End Reviews
» West End Listings
» Theatre Tickets
» Theatre & Hotel Packages