Songs, poetry in performance

Press, 15 April 1987, Page 23

Songs, poetry in performance

The work of the twentieth century French poet, Jacques Prevert, is the subject of the next Free Theatre production. The songs and poems of the poet, who died in 1977, have been translated by Peter Low, of the University of Canterbury’s French Department. He translated the works especially for the •show. , “They are performance

poems. They need a dramatic presentation,” he said. Prevert assembled visual collages and his poetry reflects this interest with verbal collages of apparently random images. The Free Theatre will present "Preversions” as a visual, verbal and musical collage. The show is a cabaret, but actor Robin Bond

points out that it is in the style of literary European cabaret rather than just a song and dance act. Robin Bond plays Louis, Julia Allen, Monique, Elisabeth Moen, Yvette and Murray Scot, Michel. The performance is directed and designed by Peter Falkenberg, Priscilla Blight, and Marie Maclean.

The music for the season is by Joseph

Kosma, and played by Sarah Watkins:

Peter Low says his translation was tempered by the need to fit the words to the music. The show will be presented in two parts. During the first half the cast of four will be playing themselves rehearsing Prevert’s writings for a forthcoming performance. Improvised dialogue will link the songs and poems. In the second half the actors will play their characters and there will be no explicit links.

The major themes revolve around the loss of innocence in life and love.

The poet’s remedy is imagination.

To continue the cabaret theme, the tickets will cost $lO and include wine. The stage will have tables on the sides.

"Preversions” will be a “fun piece,” Robin Bond said.

The group has a $3OOO grant from the Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council for the season, which begins on Tuesday, April 21. It runs until May 2.