Like many things in 21st century Latvian theater, Claire van Kampen’s play is also Farinelli and the King it came to us because it was staged in London. If we want to be precise – in 2015 in London and then also on Broadway, receiving quite a few nominations for various awards (the same awards, although less). Genre of the original play with music The Daile Theater version is specified as “a baroque costume drama about the nature of love and music”.
It should be added right away that director Viesturas Kairis’ deliberately splendid and deliberately propaphoric production concerns at least the same, if not more, the nature of the theater. Obviously realizing that the technical equipment of the theater does not allow the elements of the scenography created by Reiņas Suhanov to be changed quickly and silently, he does so openly, with the workers appearing on the stage and reconstructing the decorations, sometimes even with a rhombus accentuated. In organizing the staging, the director Viesturs Kairišs takes care of their picturesque, which is enhanced by the costumes of Ieva Jurjāne. By the way, the choice to define the show as part of a costume drama might appeal to audiences, but I’ve also heard the opinion that it is precisely this designation that makes one suspicious.
After seeing the first images of the production, I had the feeling that the creative group was influenced by Robert Wilson’s aesthetic in terms of the visual solution. This feeling is further reinforced by the remembrance of Valda Chakares on the website Kroders.lvthan in Wilson’s 1998 performance in the installation Dream game In the Stockholm City Theater, a stuffed horse is used as a symbol of sexuality.
Horse and loneliness
Claire van Kampen’s comedy is not too saturated with events. It is so static that Viesturs Kairišs was able to implement his mode of opera direction without haste, which culminated in his consistency in the production of the National Theater Salome, in which the performance with a spoken text was completely subject to the rules of the play, which however differ considerably. Music has its sovereign place in the show of the Theater of Fine Arts, reinforced by the QR code present in the program with access to the songs used (mostly by Handel) even at home.
Several dramas meet in comedy and production. King Philip V, which is undoubtedly the success of Girtas Kesters, cannot escape his existential loneliness and gradually takes refuge in madness, from which he is pulled out by the healing power of music. The king of Girta ķester sees a dead end for himself as a ruler, he wants to escape his burden, succumbing to physical and mental weakness, or, having regained consciousness and ability to act, seeking refuge away from social and political life, attracting Farinelli to him like a nightingale with human features.
The two conventional counter-forces close to the king, de la Quadra and Dr. Servi, have relatively limited opportunities to express themselves. Perhaps the worst thing that can be said about an actor’s job, with the caveat that it is not the actor’s fault, is to realize that countless other actors in the same theater can play the role for him. Kaspars Dumbur does what needs to be done, he de la Cuadra eagerly intrigues to remove the king from the throne, but this action lacks clear motivation and an opportunity to vary the manifestations of specific intrigues in some way. Yuri Bartkevich as Dr. Servi has a similar problem, because the important thing is to be at the right time and place.
A white horse becomes a symbol of the king’s loneliness in his dream world. The viewer’s poetic perception of this image is disturbed by the information that the horse doll, which the theater constantly calls a puppet, has cost quite a serious amount. The horse is expressive, it is led by three actors, led by Karl Arnolds Avots, who plays the drums expressively and at the same time plays another of the functionally necessary but actorially awkward roles: John Rich, in modern terms, a manager whose theater box office needs Farinelli and no one else. Rich appears in the production as a behind-the-scenes character, his face mostly seen on screen, conveying what is happening in the deepest plane of the stage.
An imprint of pain
In Farinelli’s version of Artūras Skrastiņš there is a brilliant talent whose emergence through castration is at the same time the tragedy of the particular person. Realizing what is being given to the castrate – the extraordinary voice – he as a person cannot forget for a moment what was taken away at the same time – the full realization of himself as a man. The character played by the actor is heavy and taciturn, especially at the beginning when he meets the king. There is no emotional connection between Farinelli and his employer, although they both like to stay away from the crowd, each for their own reasons. Rezija Kalniņas as Izabella Farnese is a strategist who somehow remembers what could be done to bring the king back to himself and puts it into action. On the other hand, the story of Izabella and Farinelli’s feelings is basically resolved in a decorative way, with her pretending to run away and him following her.
The young and promising vocalist Rūdis Cebulis is involved in the role of Farinelli’s voice, of which many words of praise have been pronounced in the program of the show. However, just like any other countertenor, Mārs Kupčas’s statement that “countertenors cannot compete with a castrato’s voice, because they sing in falsetto, which is not a basic voice”, applies to Rūdi Cebuli, thus like any other countertenor. It is unfair and unfair to accuse a young singer of not being an angel, moreover the stress was probably felt even at the premiere (it was postponed, instead of a series of three performances, only one happened). Rūdis Cebulis as the voice of a genius is used in various ways: from floating on the strings above the stage in a gorgeous dress to a body covered in blood and singing while standing behind a large, deforming lens of the face. But for now this is the voice of a young aspirant, not a brilliant singer.
At the end of the show, Đirts Ķesteris appears in another character – in the form of a modernly dressed tailor, as if throwing a catwalk through the ages and encouraging us to think about the eternal nature of music, when its creators have long been buried underground. However, the show as a whole has a somewhat sleepwalking decoration: it is visually gorgeous, musically rich (with both recorded and live works accompanied by harp and cello), but lacks vitality and nervousness, if you can say so. Thus, its visual brilliance becomes selfish, as the message wears out too soon.
FARINELLI AND THE KING
at the Theater of Fine Arts on 28.X at 19, 12.XI at 18, 25.XI at 19, 26.XI at 18, 6.XII at 19
Tickets Paradises tickets in the network EUR 15–37
