The performace of the NCC and the NSO at the National Concert Hall in Dublin is reviewed by Michael Dervan and Blood on the Moon inthe Draiocht, Blanchardstown is reviewed by Gerry Colgan
Blood on the Moon, Draiocht, Blanchardstown
Pierre Brault's one-man play, performed by the author, revisits a murder and a notorious trial in Ottawa in 1868. James Patrick Whelan was accused of the killing of Thomas D'Arcy McGee in pursuance of a Fenian plot, at a time when rebel Irishmen were returning from the civil war in America. He was convicted and hanged.
The thrust of the play is to propose that the condemned man was the innocent victim of politics, circumstantial evidence and false testimony. Brault plays all the roles - the defendant, his wife, defence and prosecuting counsel and witnesses. Some of the narrative is written in largely irrelevant rhyming verse, but it is mostly a straightforward prose presentation of the various characters saying their pieces.
What is offered is old-fashioned storytelling, with no obvious attempt to examine the process of justice, or to sail into turbulent waters. Even Whelan's innocence is not proposed beyond doubt, and the audience is invited to decide the matter for itself - although the author's sympathies are well signalled. The story is an interesting one, but a less than dramatic affair, remaining stubbornly distant.
Much the same may be said of the author's interpretation of his own writing. He is an actor of pleasant appearance and some versatility, but lacks a charismatic presence on stage. He does not create a host of credible characters, but simply simulates them while he speaks their attributed words. The result is a passive delivery of the play, not without some merit but nothing to get excited about.
John Koensgen's direction seems to achieve the purpose and pace of the script, and Martin Conboy's excellent lighting creates the illusion of a set design on a stage bare except for a single chair. Gerry Colgan
Runs until Mar 6th (tel: 01 8852622) and then tours to Bray, Galway, Letterkenny, Longford, Portlaoise, Waterford, Limerick and Belfast
NCC, NSO/Markson NCH, Dublin
Requiem - Fauré Daphnis et Chloé - Ravel
Fauré's Requiem is at the opposite end of the scale to the dramatic Requiems of Berlioz and Verdi. Rather than add to the size of the conventional symphony orchestra, Fauré pared away. A single violin takes a small solo in a work that leaves the stage largely to the violas, cellos and basses, whose colour and tone is discreetly reinforced by organ and wind, and the muted tone permeates the writing for choir and vocal soloists in this strangely haunting Requiem of sorrow and ease.
Gerhard Markson's approach was calculated, precise, and, for my taste, just a little lacking in warmth. There was, however, no risk of anything becoming over-sweetened in his careful linear sculpting, and the soprano and baritone soloists, Mary Hegarty and William Dazeley, blended unobtrusively into the low-key performance.
The ballet Daphnis et Chloé, commissioned by Diaghilev, choreographed by Fokine, and designed by Bakst, gave Ravel a lot of trouble. He struggled for a year with the finale alone and Diaghilev became so impatient he tried to get out of the contract. But the music, in which the composer wanted to reproduce "the Greece of my dreams, which is very similar to that imagined and painted by French artists at the end of the 18th century", is of a sensuality exceptional even for Ravel.
The work abounds in pitfalls and challenging solos. Markson's clear-
headedness brought confident and often sensitive responses from the NSO and NCC members, and the ravishing beauty of the orchestral colouring was at all times well brought out. Although Markson seemed to downplay the implications of harmony to focus on linear integrity, the detailing in this performance was unusually fine. It's more than 15 years since the complete ballet was heard in Ireland. I doubt it's ever been heard to such rewarding effect. Michael Dervan
