TATE AND EGG LIVE: Kapoor, Sellars, Part: Tate Modern to 11th February 2003
For an End to the Judgement of God by Antonin Artaud, Kissing God Goodbye by June Jordan, Lamentate by Arvo Part, Marsyas by Anish Kapoor.
Tate Modern, 7th February 2003 to 11th February 2003 various times, different works at different times, call Box Office for details.
Runs 2hours 30 minutes: No Interval
Tickets 020 7887 8888: http://www.tateandegglive.com
Review Mark Courtice: 7th February 2003
Tate and Egg Deadly.
Our most successful cultural monster - the Tate Gallery - is going live, with performers, musicians and trendy cabaret. First fruit of this involved three of the premier league names of contemporary culture. Arvo Part and Peter Sellars were asked to respond to the mammoth sculpture Marsyas; Anish Kapoor's own response to the stunning Turbine Hall at Tate Modern.
The result was disappointing. The blame for this must rest with Sellars - in staging a 45 year old radio play he wrecked it. Jon Malpede played Artaud's screaming denunciation of the world emerging from the Second World War as a modern Pentagon briefing. The original broadcast had amazing scary sound effects to accompany the visceral text. Here, familiar video game-like pictures of US precision bombing and archive film of the wounded of modern war did not have the same power. June Jordan's monologue blamed God for all the crimes of humankind (particularly men's contribution), its main recommendation was its brevity compared to the Artaud.
Artaud envisioned a theatre where the audience sat on swivelling chairs as the action swirled round them, he wanted all the areas in the sightlines to be used, Here we were marooned on the landing in the Turbine Hall under the great red and black horn of Kapoor's piece which meant that much of the audience could not see, the acoustic was wayward and Malpede could not move far.
The team at the Tate made heavy weather of running a venue; so uniform-clad, earpiece-wearing Stasi herded us about, the café did not have the tables set out, and we felt like interlopers who had arrived on the wrong night for a party.
Part's piece did not have much of a chance after all this. Although efforts were made to surprise us with artists moving about the Hall, and playing from behind the sculpture, the whole thing rather outstayed its welcome, the sum of the two parts serving only to diminish the both. We realised that for all its size, Kapoor's horn shape doesn't sound, and despite the number of players, Part's orchestra seemed very small indeed.
For an End to the Judgement of God, written by Antonin Artaud, and Kissing God Goodbye by June Jordan.
Antonin Artaud and General Stufflebeem: John Malpede
June Jordan: Pascale Armand
Director: Peter Sellars
Music: Osvaldo Golijov
Lighting: Nick Jones
Lamentate by Arvo Part
Musicians from the London Sinfonietta, and the Royal Academy of Music.
Conductor: Alexander Briger
Piano: Helene Grimaud
2003-02-13 19:48:35