{"id":10409,"date":"2019-03-11T15:10:04","date_gmt":"2019-03-11T14:10:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=10409"},"modified":"2019-03-11T15:12:47","modified_gmt":"2019-03-11T14:12:47","slug":"stravinskys-the-rite-of-spring-and-puccinis-gianni-schicchi-at-the-lowry-reviewed-by-marsha-courneya","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=10409","title":{"rendered":"Stravinsky\u2019s The Rite of Spring<\/em><\/strong> and Puccini\u2019s Gianni Schicchi<\/em><\/strong> at The Lowry, reviewed by Marsha Courneya"},"content":{"rendered":"

Stravinsky\u2019s The Rite of Spring<\/em> and Puccini\u2019s Gianni Schicchi<\/em> | The Lowry: March 8, 2019<\/strong> <\/p>\n

Jeanguy SAINTUS\u2019 choreography rose to meet the relentlessly challenging score of The Rite of Spring<\/em>. Although it stayed true in some moments to Stravinsky\u2019s initial vision of ritual sacrifice, wherein \u2018a young girl danc[es] herself to death,\u2019 to honour the god of spring, the piece widened to become an evocation of ritual itself. It was a cast of disciplined performers going through precise motions, aching for some sign from a higher power that their efforts were worthwhile. The expressive ability of an ensemble is greater than a sole performer, which is not a new concept in either dance or cultural ritual. However, watching them cast together so bluntly at a time when the relationship between many people and any form of ritual is fractured, I was struck by how little of this feeling remains in me. It made me miss going to church. Not because I regret suspending the practice, but because I regret that my life is missing that collective relief. The dancers stirred the air with their limbs and brought into being a narrative that changed the energy inside the theatre irrevocably. The dancers worked together seamlessly, but the work of Michael Marquez and the fine detail of his expression couldn\u2019t help but stand out.<\/p>\n

The costumes, designed by Yann Seabra, enhanced the collective movement with shy pops of colour among the nimble drapery. At moments, the hands of the dancers were tinted green or red in the most explicit representation of spring and renewal. Many of the male dancers\u2019 hands turned red during one sequence in a tableau that piled them up with a pair of hands stretched upward. It brought to mind the gentle shedding of velvet from antlers to reveal the nourishing blood underneath. There is something comforting about the work of an excellent dance company when not every composition has an obvious association, but as an audience member, you can sense that careful consideration for narrative underpins every moment.<\/p>\n

The second half of the evening was a bit of a pivot, to Puccini\u2019s one-act comic opera, Gianni Scicchi<\/em>, also conducted beautifully by Garry Walker.The opera was staged with a timeless aesthetic that included a night cap (and an iPad), but came together under a spell of Versace-style sunglasses that made the Florentine countryside seem plausibly just out of sight.<\/p>\n

Tim Claydon as Buoso performed an extended slapstick death scene at the beginning of the opera, then returned throughout as either Buoso again, or Dante Alighieri, from whose Divine Comedy<\/em> Puccini\u2019s librettist teased a story from just a few lines. Claydon\u2019s performance grew from that of a (hilarious) corpse to one that had him dangling from the gallery on a thick piece of rope, or performing other acrobatics that contrasted with his clowning to the delight of the audience.<\/p>\n

The family\u2019s acrimony in the opera is due to Buono leaving his entire estate to the Friars at Signa. Rinuccio, sung by Diego Silva in his Opera North debut, holds the will but refuses to share its contents unless his aunt Zita (Leah-Marian Jones) promises to allow him to marry Schicchi\u2019s daughter, Lauretta (Tereza Gevorgyan). It is agreed, and upon realizing Buono\u2019s intentions, the family decides to call in Schicchi for his cunning.<\/p>\n

The title role was sung with appropriate bravado and gut-warming richness by Richard Burkhard. Schicchi convinces the family of the recently-deceased Buono that he should impersonate him and rewrite the will in their favour. The short opera got more laughs than any full length comic opera I\u2019ve attended, in part because it was staged irreverently enough to let the audience know that laughter was encouraged. Opera can be alienating for some people, but this performance of Gianni Schicchi<\/em> reminded me that good programming keeps the art form exciting for newcomers and aficionados alike.<\/p>\n

The earnest love story between Lauretta and Rinuccio puts a stop to all the buffoonery during the aria, \u2018O, mio babbino caro\u2019, which is a beautiful, familiar piece that I had no idea came from this work. It caught me off guard and Tereza Gevorgyan gave an outstanding, tender performance that amounted to the operatic equivalent of a mic drop. It\u2019s a show-stopper, it sticks out from the rest of the work in a distracting manner, but that doesn\u2019t stop it from being delightful.<\/p>\n

Placing The Rite of Spring<\/em> and Gianni Schicchi<\/em> together seemed like an unlikely pairing but it meant that the tension created by SAINTUS\u2019 choreography transformed into comic catharsis.<\/p>\n

by Marsha Courneya<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Stravinsky\u2019s The Rite of Spring and Puccini\u2019s Gianni Schicchi | The Lowry: March 8, 2019 Jeanguy SAINTUS\u2019 choreography rose to meet the relentlessly challenging score of The Rite of Spring. Although it stayed true in some moments to Stravinsky\u2019s initial vision of ritual sacrifice, wherein \u2018a young girl danc[es] herself to death,\u2019 to honour the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":293,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[283,17],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nStravinsky\u2019s The Rite of Spring and Puccini\u2019s Gianni Schicchi at The Lowry, reviewed by Marsha Courneya - The Manchester Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=10409\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Stravinsky\u2019s The Rite of Spring and Puccini\u2019s Gianni Schicchi at The Lowry, reviewed by Marsha Courneya - The Manchester Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Stravinsky\u2019s The Rite of Spring and Puccini\u2019s Gianni Schicchi | The Lowry: March 8, 2019 Jeanguy SAINTUS\u2019 choreography rose to meet the relentlessly challenging score of The Rite of Spring. Although it stayed true in some moments to Stravinsky\u2019s initial vision of ritual sacrifice, wherein \u2018a young girl danc[es] herself to death,\u2019 to honour the […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=10409\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Manchester Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-03-11T14:10:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-03-11T14:12:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Marsha Courneya\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Marsha Courneya\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=10409\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=10409\",\"name\":\"Stravinsky\u2019s The Rite of Spring and Puccini\u2019s Gianni Schicchi at The Lowry, reviewed by Marsha Courneya - The Manchester Review\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2019-03-11T14:10:04+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-03-11T14:12:47+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/654a423fdb864e63d37c94b13866d06d\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=10409#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=10409\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=10409#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Stravinsky\u2019s The Rite of Spring and Puccini\u2019s Gianni Schicchi at The Lowry, reviewed by Marsha Courneya\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/\",\"name\":\"The Manchester Review\",\"description\":\"The Manchester Review\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/654a423fdb864e63d37c94b13866d06d\",\"name\":\"Marsha Courneya\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/wp-includes\/images\/blank.gif\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/wp-includes\/images\/blank.gif\",\"caption\":\"Marsha Courneya\"},\"description\":\"Marsha Courneya is a writer, editor, and open licensing specialist based in Manchester. She holds a master's in Digital Narratives from the internationale filmschule\u00a0k\u00f6ln\u00a0in\u00a0Cologne, Germany and has taught Systemic Narrative at the Cologne Game Lab.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?author=293\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Stravinsky\u2019s The Rite of Spring and Puccini\u2019s Gianni Schicchi at The Lowry, reviewed by Marsha Courneya - The Manchester Review","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=10409","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Stravinsky\u2019s The Rite of Spring and Puccini\u2019s Gianni Schicchi at The Lowry, reviewed by Marsha Courneya - The Manchester Review","og_description":"Stravinsky\u2019s The Rite of Spring and Puccini\u2019s Gianni Schicchi | The Lowry: March 8, 2019 Jeanguy SAINTUS\u2019 choreography rose to meet the relentlessly challenging score of The Rite of Spring. Although it stayed true in some moments to Stravinsky\u2019s initial vision of ritual sacrifice, wherein \u2018a young girl danc[es] herself to death,\u2019 to honour the […]","og_url":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=10409","og_site_name":"The Manchester Review","article_published_time":"2019-03-11T14:10:04+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-03-11T14:12:47+00:00","author":"Marsha Courneya","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Marsha Courneya","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=10409","url":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=10409","name":"Stravinsky\u2019s The Rite of Spring and Puccini\u2019s Gianni Schicchi at The Lowry, reviewed by Marsha Courneya - The Manchester Review","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#website"},"datePublished":"2019-03-11T14:10:04+00:00","dateModified":"2019-03-11T14:12:47+00:00","author":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/654a423fdb864e63d37c94b13866d06d"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=10409#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=10409"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=10409#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Stravinsky\u2019s The Rite of Spring and Puccini\u2019s Gianni Schicchi at The Lowry, reviewed by Marsha Courneya"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#website","url":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/","name":"The Manchester Review","description":"The Manchester Review","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/654a423fdb864e63d37c94b13866d06d","name":"Marsha Courneya","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/wp-includes\/images\/blank.gif","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/wp-includes\/images\/blank.gif","caption":"Marsha Courneya"},"description":"Marsha Courneya is a writer, editor, and open licensing specialist based in Manchester. She holds a master's in Digital Narratives from the internationale filmschule\u00a0k\u00f6ln\u00a0in\u00a0Cologne, Germany and has taught Systemic Narrative at the Cologne Game Lab.","url":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?author=293"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2PuXo-2HT","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10409"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/293"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10409"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10409\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10420,"href":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10409\/revisions\/10420"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10409"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10409"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}