Performance, Shows & Events

Mummenschanz

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Mummenschanz
Saturday, October 26, 2024 8 PM
Cal Performances: UC Berkeley

Without Words! Delightful!

Mummenschanz celebrated it’s 50th anniversary of performances with three events at the Zellerbach Auditorium on the UC Campus. In this day and age of endless talk (often useless and repetitious), Mummenschanz offers 90 minutes of movement, mime, stage design and wonders..and best of all continual silence, except for our laughter. But the performers skill speaks loudly through their various acts.

We, the audience, are greeted by performers who (variously) roll balls into the ‘house’ for the audience to give back; transform their faces by the use of ‘clay’ masks which they change continually, offering one expression succeeded by another and (sometimes using unusual props or none at all) delight our eyes with transformation.

The director, Floriana Frassetto (the poet of silence) offers the current audience on a 50 year celebration through the “fascinating world of Mummenschanz, a fantastic journey, full of affection and brimming with imagination.”

And so it is. This viewer was delighted with the ease of ensemble playing, yet awed by individual skills in tumbling, gesture, acrobatic challenges, mask changes and surprises of all sorts. Let us hope that Mumenschanz will continue another 50 years!

The performers are: Christa Barrett, Tess Burla, Samuel Muller, Eric Sauge and Manuel Schunter. Bravo to them all and, of course, to Ms. Fressetto, superb director.

Performance

SLAM!

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SLAM!

Zellerbach Hall: UC Berkeley: October 5, 2024 8 pm
FLIPFABRIQUE AND EXMACHINA:
Robert Lepage

This extraordinary Canadian group brings us acrobatic and physical skills I have never seen elsewhere, except perhaps, in the old circus days when clowns and acrobats entertained between acts. But SLAM! Is unique: although the set is a boxing ring (albeit square), events and incidents occur all over the stage, below and above the rink! It is an amazing show although, for this viewer, almost too much.

The eight ‘acrobats’ perform multiple feats (with head, torsos and yes..feet) with most extraordinary skill. They juggle, confront and toss each other about, perform on ropes, right side up, upside down and in the case of one woman performer, almost inside out! Each event follows one another in a rapid pace, giving the audience almost no time to recover… although the performers seem to do so in marvelous speed. Fortunately, there is much alternation of performers so that necessary recovery time between events is provided. And then there is the janitor… who seems to be outside the events, picking up dropped objects and other used paraphernalia from the stage floor, outside the rink. But then, of course, he is a performer like no other, ascending to (and adjusting) a walk rope high above the rink. He executes balance feats, tumbling, ascent and descent superbly executed.

SLAM! Is a thrilling 90 minutes of events. This viewer (who alas tires easily) was longing for a quiet moment of non-activity, hoping the performers would just be still sloughing off all skills and just be lazy. Lepage keeps them moving: we are amazed!

The performers are: Jéremie Arsenauft, Fabien Cortes, Maerva Desplat, Naomi Eddu, Jonathan Julien, Stephine Pansa, Cédrik Pinault and Adele Saint-Martin.

Opera, Performance

Olivier Messiaen’s Harawi

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Olivier Messiaen’s Harawi
Cal Performances
Friday September 27, 2024 8pm
Zellerbach Hall UC Berkeley

Simply Beautiful!

The opera Harawi has many unusual aspects; many were discussed in a varied and complex discussion by scholars before the performance. Yet, no matter the complexity of language choices (Messiaen chose Andrean Harawi language traditions to use in his text), the music, the performers, the choreography and the dramatic staging succeeded beyond all intellectualization. The performers, singer, pianist, and dancers are superb.

Julia Bullock, soprano, is Cal Performances 2024/25 ‘artist in residence’. She will return Zellerbach Hall January 19, 2025 to perform with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. Bullock is an amazing performer. Not only is her voice a superb instrument, but she is a resourceful actress, interacting with the two dancers on stage in emotional moving song and drama, but she was also physically active in her roll, at one instance singing from the floor … on her back!

The dancers, Bobbi Jane Smith and Or Schraiber complemented the dramatic activity with carefully chosen appropriate choreography. Smith interacted with Bullock, embracing and comforting her during some emotionally intense moments. Schraiber provided quieter support; both were dramatically effective complements to the singer. The choreographic choices were simple and effective throughout.

Conor Hanick, pianist, held center stage on the grand piano playing Messiaen’s score with great skill and expressiveness. His focus on the score and the sound centered him so that we the audience could concentrate on the dramatic action of Bullock, Smith and Schairber.

“Harawi” was a challenge to audience’s concentration and skill; listening, watching and reading the text (in French and English) shown on the screen above the performers. The translations were sometimes odd: but then the words were often in Harawi.

This performance is a production of AMOC, American Modern Opera Company which was established in 2017 with the mission of “building an sharing a body of collaborative work”. In 2022-23 AMOC reached audiences through 34 performances across 20 US venues and digital platforms.

This event, the Cal Performance first of the season was superb … and a challenge to its audience. It promises to be an exciting season at Zellerbach Hall and on the UC campus.