Hashirigaki - Théâtre Vidy Lausanne

Saison 2011-2012Press reviewHashirigakiDe/ By/ Von Heiner GoebbelsThe Wire (EN)01.2002Huddersfield Contemporary MusicFestival - Huddersfield Various venues.[...] But the highlight of the festival wasHeiner Goebbel´s wonderful, enchantingHashirigaki, performed at the LawrenceBatley Theatre. You might know Goebbelsfrom last year´s Surrogate Citieson ECM, and as the composer of radiosound art in Germany, but in a talk afterwardsdescribed himself modestly asa compiler of music: outtakes fromtheBeach Boys` Pet Sounds album setalongsiede Japanese folk music. Thethree theatre actress/singer/dancers -Marie Goyette, Charlotte Engelkes andYumiko Tanaka - recited texts from GertrudeStein´s The Making of Americans,in a well-enunciated and almost patronisingdelivery. Goebbels is a man ofthe theatre as much as a composer, andmusic and words were unified in a delightfullyabsurdist, make-believe worldof play, owing as much to Teletubbiesas any contemporary American drama.Balloons and bells decended from theceiling, one of the players took an imaginaryshoe-box dog for a walk, and acardboard cutout bus ´driven´ ´by a nonchalantgum-chewing driver appearedon stage to take the three players on ajourney. A darker tone was set for theclosing scene, lit by a single garish lightbulb, but as for the message I wouldn´tcare the guess - maybe there wasn´tone. Lighting an sets were perfect. Unfogettablebut sadly there was only oneperformance. You had to be there.Andy Hamilton