Two touches of Venus
Shakespeare's
poem is one of his earliest works. Venus is the Roman incarnation
of the Goddess of love. Adonis was the both the Greek and Roman
incarnation of youthful male beauty and virility. Shakespeare's
poem takes the episode when Venus falls in love with Adonis and
detaining from a hunt, seduces him but is unable to make him return
her love. She begs him to return the following day but at dawn,
hearing the pack hounds run wild, she searches for him only to
discover him killed by a wild boar. Gardens and forests featured
in the celebration of Adonis, in the myth the anemone flower sprang
from the blood from his wounds and Proserpine used the anemone
to restore him to life and he spent one half of the year with
her and the other half with Venus. Shakespeare leaves off with
the death of Adonis but uses the analogy of parkland and especially
the fragility and easy mortality of flowers in this intensely
erotic poem. It seems that he could charge even his earliest verse
with an all-embracing sensuality.
In adapting the text and setting it to music director
Marion Potts, composer Andrée Greenwell and the creative
team have worked a minor miracle. What they have created is the
modern day equivalent to an Elizabethan masque or a chamber entertainment
at any rate. As a dramatic presentation of the poem it is as unsatisfactory
as any Bell Shakespeare presentation of any of the plays, reams
and reams of lines go by unrealised with only occasional phrases
made meaning of. Having the house Dramaturg on hand would have
thought to have brought more insight to the text. What the dramaturgy
and close collaboration does provide is undeniably well integrated
piece of theatre.
Set in what looks like a 1960s hotel room the person
of Venus has been split into two performers (Melissa Madden Gray
- of Meow-Meow fame - and Susan Prior). They are dressed in the
style of the 1940s so might have been waiting in this room for
twenty years or more. When the play begins there is a quiet depression,
the clothes and stillness making it look like a scene after Edward
Hopper). Both Venuses sport ponytails as long as ... well .. pony
tails I suppose but longer and their ennui is broken by the sound
of an elevator 'binging' open. That Venus' attempted seduction
of Adonis happens outdoors, literally trying to pry him off his
horse, is lost. The constant references to outdoors becomes more
a recollection in this urban setting (during a interlude the sound
of a council truck emptying bins is heard). The only glimpse of
nature is when the window curtains part to reveal the the band
seated in tropical terrarium.
Adonis never appears, his few utterances are taken
by Venus² who appear to dissect his lack of interest in her
like girls analyzing a dud relationship in the powder room. Sections
like that do make something out of the text. Another moment is
when Madden Gray as Venus fixes a section of the audience with
a big eyed stare like a 'dumb broad' from any film of the era
she is dressed in to speak the "I'll be a park and though
shalt be my deer" lines. "Graze on my lips," she
pouts and while running her hands over her breasts suggests that
"if those hills be dry" runs her hands further down
inviting him to "stray lower". This is Shakespeare by
way of Anita Loos! The strangest section is done as mini film
presentation. In the poem Adonis needs maximum coercion while
his horse, seeing a pretty filly launches on her with a sexual
frenzy that is described like a clinical lecture by the Venusian
twins.
Greenwell's music dovetails into the spoken sections
so that songs emerge naturally out of the text. Greenwell's prominent
use of recorders acknowledges the Elizabethan origins but the
music can be anywhere in time from Elizabethan or earlier, contemporary,
with a sound similar to Berio's Folk Songs or even soft rock.
The vocal parts are in close harmony, very close andf often in
unison given that, although performed by two people, it is a single
character. Given the fact that Venus² look like they have
strayed out of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes it wouldn't have
surprised if they had broken out in "Little Girls from Little
Rock" (Prior even looks like Jane Russell). What is most
noticeable is that the music supports or dominates with an intimate
subtlety. The works ends with a longer musical section with a
ground bass and further instrumental and vocal lines building
over it. The effect is almost like Purcell. The three players
have a variety of instruments between them, including some serious
recorder definitely not of the red plastic variety we remember
from kinder. Despite any reservations the production looks great
and will of interest to a wide range of audiences. Malthouse are
doing some important things with music based theatre of which
this is one.
Michael Magnusson
To read more of Michael Mangusson's theatre reviews,
check out his blog at
On Stage (and walls) Melbourne.
