En Masse Is An Arresting Fusion of Circus, Dance and Classical Music - CircusTalk

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En Masse Is An Arresting Fusion of Circus, Dance and Classical Music

According to their artistic director, Yaron Lifschitz, Circa’s En Masse “speaks of fresh starts and old endings, of violence and tenderness, of groups and individuals, of destruction and abundant hope”. This world premiere, as part of the Brisbane Festival, presents these paradoxes to create a work that defies genre and challenges theatrical possibilities.

The first act, titled Endings, combines songs from Austrian composer Franz Schubert’s late song cycles Die Winterreise (The Winter’s Journey) and Schwanengesang (Swansong) with industrial and electronic compositions by Klara Lewi

En Masse opens with a projected quote, “The crisis consists precisely in the fact that the old is dying and the new cannot be born” (from Italian philosopher Antonio Gramsci). The set of the first act is dominated by a large plastic scrim and, subsequently, a translucent plastic cube containing the performers. This cube deflates later in the piece creating a sense of entrapment and claustrophobia that the performers fight against.

The Schubert songs, including StändchenGute Nacht and Der Doppelgänger, are performed with magnificent control and an astonishing range of dynamics by English tenor Robert Murray and pianist Tamara-Anna Cislowska. Murray’s soft singing is particularly ravishing.

He is dressed as a vagabond-type character who mostly observes the cataclysmic activity of the acrobats around him, although the occasional interaction with the other performers provides some very moving moments. There seem to be subtle references here to the Wanderer of Richard Wagner’s Ring Cycle and to the Winter’s Journey of Schubert’s protagonist and he becomes an outsider to the events around him

At times, there is a slight disconnect between the frantic movements of the performers and the serenity of the Schubert songs, although this contrast also provides interesting theatrical conflict. Similarly, the contrast between Lewis’ industrial compositions and Schubert’s songs is effective but raises questions of cohesion.

The acrobatic movements of the first act feature extreme writhing, twitching and contortion as the performers fight the end of the world. The ensemble work ranges through duos, trios, solos and group pieces and is sometimes violent and shocking, while also quite tender in contrasting moments.

 

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