‘A Portrait of Richard III’ in movement, voice and cello
The Wander-Light Eurythmy Company presents:
‘A portrait of Richard III’ in movement, voice and cello
“Now is the winter of our discontent…”
Shakespeare’s famous opening lines for Richard III is the first dull awareness that something is niggling at him. This something is his conscience of which he becomes fully conscious only in the course of the play, culminating in his nightmare (Act V, Sc.3) and in his last outcry
“A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse!”
On the way to this realisation that to obtain the wings of Pegasus he must sacrifice his longing for worldy power. Richard is lead via blind ambition, tyrannising and calculated murder to his goal of becoming King of England, when in reality he aims for inner kingship. In our own destinies the ‘good life’ does not leave us fulfilled but rather discontent, if not depressed. We are not aware of why we are unfulfilled in our soul life, and try to suppress our dull awareness of conscience by various forms of distraction: e.g. consumption of drugs, addiction to infotainment etc. robbing us of the possibility of developing of our own goals. After numerous horrendous acts, culminating in Richard’s murder of the royal twins (Tyrell’s speech, Act 4, Sc.3) Richard breaks down with the words
“Unless I could put on some other shape / And not be Richard… “
This is the first time he realises who he really is. From this point on he loses his chutzpah, baffling his subjects and thus Shakespeare takes us swiftly to the cathartic conclusion.
In this play – one of Shakespeare’s masterpieces – one is pointed to the inner battlefield of the soul. Richard III is pictured by Shakespeare as a hunch-back. Whether this is historically correct or not, Shakespeare uses this feature to point us to the inner mis-figuration of a tormented soul, to the inner hunchback. The art of eurythmy in this production enables us to enter this soul-space. Especially composed music sets the outer as well as the inner scene. With his at times strange, sombre and astonishing expression the narrator embeds his voice into the visible gestures.
2010 saw nine well-received eurythmy performances of ‘Richard III’: Melbourne, Montsalvat, Castlemaine, Ballarat, Canberra, Blue Mountains, Newcastle.
In 2011 we will be taking this production Australia-wide (Perth & WA, Adelaide + Melbourne,Sydney, Brisbane & numerous regional locations) as part of our 11th national tour.
Our production ‘A Portrait of Richard III’ received the following critique:
“He really opened my mind up to new experiences, and broadened my eurythmy horizons” (year 8 )
“Like nothing we’d seen before, the darkness was palpable” (year 10)
“Mark gave a very physical performance of a tormented mind” (year 10)
“There’s nothing conformist about Mark―rebel eurythmist meets Nelson Mandela…” (year 9)
Ben Darby <benedictdarby@gmail.com> (teacher high-school, Sophia Mundi Steiner School, Melbourne City)
Suitable for yrs 8―12 or an evening performance.
The Performers
Dennis Coard graduated from the Victorian College of the Arts with a Diploma in Acting, and has since enjoyed 25 years of a rich and varied career on stage (Melbourne Theatre Company etc), screen & television. He has been part of our Eurythmy Lear performances.
Mark Neill studied eurythmy with the European master Else Klink in Stuttgart Germany, receiving his Diploma for Perfomance. Over 20 years his eurythmy productions include Hamlet, Lear, numerous fairy-tales and works by Lawson, Dvorak, Rodrigo.
Gotthard Killian, cellist and flautist, has over the last 30 years toured many parts of the world while based at the Goetheanum, Switzerland, and for seven years at Melbourne, AUS, composing for eurythmy and theatre. He published ‘Die Monochordschule des Pythagoras’ on the Greek modes (BlueHill Publishing 2006).
Running time: 50 minutes.
Cost: by negotiation.
Tour dates: Australia & NZ: August/Sept 2011
Europe, USA, Asia: Nov/Dec 2011.
We are open to include workshops alongside our performances.
Contact:
Mark Neill
www.aportraitofrichard3rd.wordpress.com
3 Preshaw St, Castlemaine VIC 3450, AUSTRALIA
phone +61 (0)3 5470 5581
Previous tours have received the following responses:
“Our mixed group of younger and older high school students, from both State and Steiner schools, were captivated from start to finish by Mark Neill’s Hamlet.” Georgie Michaelis, Chrysalis School, N.S.W., AUS.
“The very attentive audience throughout tells it all: the children were quiet and engrossed in the tales. 5 out of 5.” John Davidsson, Footscray City Primary School, VIC., AUS.
“The live music, costumes and beautiful dancers kept the audience totally absorbed throughout the performance. Best children’s performance I’ve seen.” Omeo Primary School, Omeo, VIC., AUS.
“The Wolf was cool!” Fourteen year old pupil, Armidale Steiner School, N.S.W., AUS.
“Just keep touring.” Class teacher, Christchurch Waldorf School, New Zealand.
“I think I was most taken by the Eurythmy Lear – it fair blew me away. King Lear and his Daughters was electrifying.” Marie Ryan, Radio 88.6FM, AUS.
aportraitofrichard3rd 