LIPSYNCH till 14 September.
London.
LIPSYNCH
Barbican Theatre To 14 September 2008.
13-14 September 2008.
1pm.
Runs 9 hours Five intervals.
TICKETS: 0845 120 7511. (transaction fee)
www.barbican.org.uk/bite (reduced booking fee).
Review: Angie Bual, 7 September 2008.
A great theatrical event, not perfect, but it doesn't detract from the whole experience.
Lipsynch’s a daunting prospect; nine hours in a theatre is a challenge for even the keenest theatre-goer. But Lepage's series of stories are well-paced and compelling. Each is told through a different theatrical language best suited to its main character's journey, and it's impossible to predict where Lepage will take us next.
The love and impact of sound, voice and language is the thread. For each of the central characters sound - opera, rock, dubbing, voiceover or accent - is a factor in their fate. Not surprisingly with a project of this size some stories are stronger than others.
Like the first story, centering on opera singer Ada. It begins and ends in a plane coursing across a cloud-filled sky, underscored by a powerful operatic soundscape. Ada is linked to most other characters in Lipsynch.
There are lovely moments; as when her child grows up. Ada lays the baby down to change him; when he gets up he is a whining boy, she is struggling to put his jacket on. He runs behind a seat and when he gets up again he is a teenage boy.
In a gently told train journey we see them move to London through waiting rooms and a tube journey where people glide through windows behind the tube, creating the sense of motion.
As strong is the second story, of Thomas, Ada's lover, a neuro-surgeon. He is operating on a woman who will lose the power of speech for a brief time. His tragedy is that his own mind begins to deteriorate. Lepage uses a stunning method to illustrate his panic; a camera projects the scene, projections and reality link and merge . . . together with the central character we begin to lose our grip on reality.
Later, Jeremy, Ada's adoptive son becomes a director. His story is told in a filmic way, each scene-change involving technicians onstage moving the set, the stage manager shouting orders to orchestrate the change.
These first hours are brilliantly done, strong acting and perceptively designed. The final few, however, seem rushed and much less sophisticated. That of Michelle the bookshop employee could be cut completely, while the final story fails to live up to expectations. However I don’t regret 9 hours I gave to Lipsynch.
Directed by Robert Lepage
Produced by Ex machina/Théâtre sans Frontières
In association with Cultural Industry and Northern Stage
Co-produced by barbicanbite08, Cabildo Insular de Tenerife and Festival TransAmèriques, Montrèal
Written by Frédérike Bédard, Carlos Belda, Rebecca Blankenship, Lise Castonguay, John Cobb, Nuria Garcia, Marie Gignac, Sarah Kemp, Robert Lepage, Rick Miller, Hans Piesbergen
2008-09-11 20:51:48