by Bruno Villien adapted by Gavin Lambert
Fairfax Studio until 22, 24, 26, 27, 28, 30 October, 1999
Reviewer: Kate Herbert
The stars of Leslie Caron's performance, Nocturne for
Lovers, are Frederic Chopin's music and George Sand's passions although
"lovers" is a misnomer for the prolonged and mostly non-sexual
relationship between these two artists.
Sand, born Aurore Dupin in Paris in 1804, was a mother to
the tubercular Chopin during their volatile relationship from 1838 to 1847.
Even when he lived at her home in Nohant, Chopin referred to her as his
"hostess". Now, there's a euphemism!
This performance is one of two Melbourne Festival vehicles
for screen star, Caron. From Sand's correspondence, Bruno Villien adapted Nocturne
into a play called Un Amour qui attend La Mort which is tastefully translated
into English by Gavin Lambert.
The monologue, set during the period of her acquaintance
with Chopin, begins with Caron in Sand's characteristic trousers with cigar and
mannish gestures. She changes into more feminine attire to reflect Sand's
acquiescence to Chopin's demands.
The great irony is that Sand was a radical feminist before
the term was coined. She wrote and spoke publicly for the cause of the workers
and believed women to be different but equal to men. She left her husband, had
affairs with famous men including Delacroix and Flaubert, educated her children
and wrote novels at night under the pseudonym of George Sand.
Why would such a woman choose a "narrow-minded,
domineering" and childish artist as a lover? Anyone with the answer to
this question would immediately reduce all gender argument to dust.
Accompanying Caron is piano virtuoso, David Abramovitz, who
speaks no words but communicates volumes through exceptional musical skill
playing 16 Chopin works.
Roger Hodgman deftly directs the relationship between the
two characters, allowing Abramovitz's regal presence, simple poses and intense
gaze to tell us all as Caron perches on a stool or sits quietly at her desk; sometimes
it is a little too static.
Caron's performance uses the mimetic gestures of classical
ballet that are melodramatic rather than dramatic. This, unfortunately, creates
an appearance of artificiality in the genuine passions of Sand.
Sand was a human dynamo who believed she could not live
without love but realised she could not find it in one man. What kind of life
could she have in the late 20th century?
by Kate Herbert
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