Review-Neither/Delusions II-NVAF
2-11-12
By: Tom Hope
What’s the sense in writing a review of something which sets out to defy one’s sense of what makes sense?
In his programme notes, Phase 7’s artistic director Sven Soren Beyer describes NEITHER as ‘no traditional opera in common sense… The absence of characters, dialogues and localisation opens up a gap and a friction... a very up-to-date, or rather, ageless anti-opera… The linguistic form is as uncertain as the content itself… a disembodied state of uncertainty in linguistically interlaced pairs of thoughts that fail to describe a place for home or security of existence…'
Ok, so anything involving Samuel Beckett (who wrote the NEITHER ‘libretto’) usually makes you think ‘what’s the point of thinking?’
So, in response to this ‘anti-opera’, here’s my ‘anti-review’, telling you what this show is not.
It’s not for anyone with epilepsy or other conditions that might bring on seizures. The noise was so loud it vibrated my trouser pockets (and no, my hands weren’t in them) and the show contained laser-light strobographics that could have graced a Wanchai disco – or, for that matter, Hong Kong’s evening harbour front.
It’s not got a story. To check out the 56 word ‘libretto’ aka ‘non-story’, click here.
It’s not got a lot of catchy tunes. Well, like, er, none. There’s a wide-ranging palette of sounds coming out of 64 speakers with some interestingly polyphonic and/or rhythmic effects. There’s an occasional 3 note sequence. But Mamma Mia it ain’t.
It’s not really got a libretto. Composer Morton Feldman deliberately pitched the notes for the solo singer (who for NEITHER - but not DELUSIONS II which has NO visible humans besides the audience - stands on a plinth and rotates herself like a singing statue) so high all you hear is a reiterated ‘Ah’. The programme notes say ‘her voice forms a part of the orchestra and at the same time her personality gets lost in the musical composition’. To me, it sounded like she was in a lot of pain.
It’s not for those who want an interactive experience beyond watching a sound and light show. OK, in part 1 (NEITHER) you sit throughout and in part 2 (DELUSIONS II) you can move around as much as you like. But each time what you get is what’s in essence a sound and light show that’s orchestrated to the last millisecond.
So did I like it? As an anti-reviewer, I feel entitled not to say whether I liked it or not. Instead, here are reactions from other audience members (a schools performance, filled to capacity, each aged between 16 and 18) on NEITHER:
‘3D is very fantastic’
‘Singer is very good – very enjoy it’ [giggle, intimating a subtle sense of Beckettian irony]
‘The high voice very good’ [no giggle]
‘For me, little bit boring – very dark – I can’t understand what it means – can’t think of any bits I like’
‘Don’t know what she sings – I like the light – music is interesting – but I wouldn’t pay to see this show’
So did I like it?
OK, I will say what I ‘think’ – knowing that’s not a response Beckett or Feldman would necessarily endorse.
I think during the show I probably thought too much about what I was supposed to be thinking instead of just going with it and not caring what I thought.
A day later, the imagery of the show stays with me still – but to what purpose?
Technically, it’s awesome. Aesthetically, I got more from 6 seconds of Jerry Springer, The Opera than I did from 60 minutes of NEITHER and 30 minutes of DELUSIONS II combined.
I’m happy to think deep thoughts about the meaning of life and whatever else springs into my head for a prolonged period of self-imposed stasis, but doing so with NEITHER and DELUSIONS II happening around me didn’t take me anywhere I couldn’t have gone sitting at home watching it on YouTube and drinking a nice cup of tea.
Which is not to say that this show is something you can replicate at home. It’s just my response. And I’m a guy who likes words and a story.
So if you already have those tickets, do go see this double-header of uncertainties. Then come back to this site and tell the world what you yourself think in the comment section below.
And if you don’t already have tickets, come back anyway because there might be more to read about the show from me. And then again there might not. (Yes, that’s a Beckettian stab at my own kind of Neither-ness.)
Oh yes - if you want to know the 6 seconds of Jerry that (for me) articulated the (possible) essence of NEITHER/DELUSIONS II, it’s when God descends to Jerry in Hell (early in Act 2) decked out as a Stetson-hatted good-ol’-boy in a dazzling-white 3 piece suit singing ‘It ain’t easy being me’.
Beckett & Feldman, go eat your non-story hearts out!
Neither/Delusions II is playing as part of the New Vision Arts Festival through Saturday. HKELD was informed Friday morning that the tickets for this production have sold out. For more information about the production, click here.
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