Justin, wish granted, get thee hence asap, its in the Palace Theatre, Oxford
Road, Manchester right now, till the 9th, will be in London as part of the
Olympics. Just looked it up to check details and found this review from the
Independent, glad to see its not just me that feels that way about it.
regards
Melissa.
Paul Vellely - the Independent, Tueday 5th July 2011
"There is a hole in the heart of Damon Albarn's new opera, Dr Dee. And it is
a surprising one.
John Dee was one of the greatest minds of the Tudor era - a mathematician,
astronomer, cartographer, philosopher, occultist, alchemist, courtier and
spy. He cracked enemy codes for the Queen, advised how to defeat the Spanish
Armada, and helped her explorers navigate the globe to create the British
Empire, a term he invented.
In an age before science, religion and magic split he had England's biggest
library, divided the natural world into species, pioneered the Gregorian
calendar and became physician to Elizabeth I. Believing numbers were the key
to knowledge, he began to hold seances with a dodgy medium called Edward
Kelley to converse with angels and unlock the secrets of nature. He was the
model for both Prospero and Dr Faustus.
Plenty to write about there, you'd have thought. And certainly Albarn and
the director Rufus Norris have created something thrilling and visually
stunning. Giant books cascade like the pleats of accordions in perpetual
motion. A carapace of coronation robes rise to canopy the world. Projected
line-drawings dissolve magically. Norris conjures the English fleet from a
few billowing sails, flocks of doves from silk-twirling dancers, the
pillaging of Dee's library with a massive fall of swirling papers, and an
ominous flock of ravens like something from Hieronymus Bosch. The staging is
mostly a triumph, but the opening dumb show and final song don't work.
There is a haunting minor melancholy about the music. The BBC Philharmonic
plays Albarn's spare score alongside an on-stage band of lutes, viols and
shawms with African harp and drums. It evokes the era without resorting to
pastiche. The frail, strained voice of Albarn works well against the
vibratoless purity of fine early music singing. Counter-tenor Christopher
Robson is icily repellent as Kelley.
But in the end the piece does not properly tell us the story, reducing it to
Kelley's psychological seduction of Dee and the rape of his wife. Bertie
Carvel, as Dee, has almost no lines. This a masque with music, all symbols,
hints and allusions. But it never makes us care about the hero. "England,
sing for John Dee," Albarn concludes, but he gives us no reason why we
should. These are rich components. What is missing is the alchemy to turn
them into gold."
----- Original Message -----
From: "Justin McKeown" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, July 06, 2011 11:13 PM
Subject: Re: [ACADEMIC-STUDY-MAGIC] Doctor Dee
Thanks Melissa for your review and comment on my question. I mentioned the
Dee opera today to a colleague who said he thought it might be touring to
Manchester as well. If it comes north I reckon I'll check it out, if even
for kitsch value.
Justin
Sent from my iPhone
On 6 Jul 2011, at 11:27, Melissa Harrington
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Sure, but dont let it put you off, its still pretty amazing, and does
> introduce Dee/Kelley and their work in the context of Elizabethan politics
> and zeitgeist, its just that it's truly fabulous theatre but shallow on
> the magic. Proper review to follow.
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "mandrake" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Wednesday, July 06, 2011 9:39 AM
> Subject: Re: [ACADEMIC-STUDY-MAGIC] Doctor Dee
>
>
>> On 04/07/2011 22:44, Melissa Harrington wrote:
>>
>> Pity - can i repost your comment below?
>> mogg
>>> Dear All
>>>
>>> The Dee Opera was indeed an opera, with much serious funding, to be used
>>> in the olympics, incorporating the English National Orchestra; and the
>>> quality of the cast, theatrics, sets and directing was so good I really
>>> enjoyed all of it but Damon Albarn's incongruous busker style
>>> commentaries. Stunning effects, well worth watching and a good afternoon
>>> out, but be aware that the magic you see will be on a par with that of a
>>> wicked witch or fairy Godmother in the local Christmas panto, this is a
>>> materialist reading which conflates necromancy and enochian scrying,
>>> focusses on politics and the mundane aspects of the Dee/Kelley journey,
>>> and is in essence a faustian morality tale. I will write a proper review
>>> this week.
>>>
>>> Dear Justin
>>>
>>> I love this question, but the answer is perhaps something huge we are
>>> all working on together on this list!
>>>
>>> "Some say art is a mirror, others a hammer. I can't help but see it more
>>> as a reflexive (sometimes unconscious) spasm responding to the
>>> sociopolitical conditions an artist lives within. If we agree that art
>>> is a means of materialising and holding suspended the immaterial
>>> invisible aspects of being, What does all this spasming around the
>>> occult Say about the conditions of our time?
>>> "
>>>
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