Pittsburgh City Paper: Barely 80 minutes long, with a cast of seven, Quantum Theatre's production of Ainadamar is nonetheless huge. Director Karla Boos fills the large hall of East Liberty Presbyterian Church with much video, sound and fury about freedom and the wastefulness of war. Osvaldo Golijov's 2003 opera (libretto by David Henry Hwang) tells of the death of Federico Garcia Lorca, Spain's great poet and playwright, and Ainadamar's Christ figure.
5 comments:
After visiting the site for Ainadamar and seeing the show, I dont know if I can say I truly liked it or hated it. After initially visiting the site, it seemed a little bit too forced to be in the space. Quantum Theatre is all about the site, and while there are some great aspects to the location at the church, I wouldnt call it a great site for the piece overall. The balconies were not used as well as they could have, and the staircase was probably the best feature of the piece that could have been capitalized on more. The alley configuration made me look back and forth too much, and the supertittles were gigantic in the middle of the stage. Although the space could have been capitalized on more, and some of the technical elements were distracting, the performers were able to hold their own and bring the performance out through their art. The media was helpful in some places, but the actors could have done without it. The combination of all the elements worked well for the way Quantum wanted to do their piece.
I find this really an intriguing piece. I know Quantum travels with all their pieces, but I never really thought about the idea of doing an opera in a church (though looking back on it, the acoustics would likely be very good). The idea behind the show is really quite intriguing, I'm not sure if I a fan of an entirely female cast playing male parts. Its not that I'm against it, I just thing there needs to be a really strong reason for a show to be cast that way, and in this case I don't know what the reason was. The part about the subtitles surprised me. I actually like that concept but I didn't think that there was a practical way to incorporate it into an opera. I glad that they found one.
My first project for Susan was the theatre discovery project, which led me to research Quantum theatre. During reasearching, I found that they had just finished a show and were moving on to Ainadamar. I gathered all the information I could about it, but there was very little as it had not been publicly developed yet. Now that the show has come and gone, I am very interested in how it turned out relative to the original things I read about it and how it fit in Quantum's season. I think it is a very cool piece, and the venue was absolutely spectacular. I wish I had had the time to go see it!
I really want to see a quantum show while I'm here in Pittsburgh because it seems like they're trying to do something different with theater and performance. This new show is no exception. Taking place in a church instead of a theater literally sets the stage for the performance and it really feels like it would suit the time period and place. I'd love to see this show but honestly I probably won't get a chance to.
I think that the contrast between a simply play, with a handful of actors and large scale tech. Putting on shows in Churches is actually not uncommon, especially for a company like Quatum. There are churches that are the size of stadiums and are lit like concerts with extensive media involved. I was at a conference for Apollo lighting and I saw presentations of massive churches that were totally decked out with technology. This also sounds like a very cool opera to be putting on, especially in a space that must have some pretty good acoustics.
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