Danish-born singer and contrabass player Ida Duelund Hansen has taken a
handful of pieces by 17th Century English composer Henry Purcell - arias
from Dido and Aeneas, The Fairy-Queen and King Arthur, a setting of a
poems by John Dryden and Katherine Philips and a hymn - and worked them
into a thoroughly modern piece about neglected wives and dead husbands.
About the fire of love and the ice of "til death do us part".
The willowy Hansen is an accomplished and imaginative musician, and a good physical performer with a passable soprano. Any expectations of a recital-style performance, however, are dashed in the opening seconds: a few words into Dido's famous lament - "When I am laid in earth'' - a doorbell sounds off stage. It's not fate calling, it's Avon. And she goes unanswered.
Though there are several moments of inspired verbal and physical comedy - Hansen using the navel of a man as an endpin stopper for her instrument is but one - Another Lament doesn't belittle Purcell's music or take the mickey out of his unexplained and premature demise.
Hansen's creation is enhanced and beautifully framed by Kate Sulan's direction, her creative team and the wonderfully enigmatic presence of a squad of performers from rawcus, an ensemble of performers with and without disabilities. Their contributions are literal without being in any way reductive.
This is one of those rare shows and that will satisfy both novice theatergoers and musical trainspotters.
The willowy Hansen is an accomplished and imaginative musician, and a good physical performer with a passable soprano. Any expectations of a recital-style performance, however, are dashed in the opening seconds: a few words into Dido's famous lament - "When I am laid in earth'' - a doorbell sounds off stage. It's not fate calling, it's Avon. And she goes unanswered.
Though there are several moments of inspired verbal and physical comedy - Hansen using the navel of a man as an endpin stopper for her instrument is but one - Another Lament doesn't belittle Purcell's music or take the mickey out of his unexplained and premature demise.
Hansen's creation is enhanced and beautifully framed by Kate Sulan's direction, her creative team and the wonderfully enigmatic presence of a squad of performers from rawcus, an ensemble of performers with and without disabilities. Their contributions are literal without being in any way reductive.
This is one of those rare shows and that will satisfy both novice theatergoers and musical trainspotters.