The Other (In)Side

The setting is a vintage recording studio, permeated by an unsettling but captivating vibe. A beautiful trap for the musicians who have ventured there. From off stage, we hear the increasingly worried voice of the sound engineer. It’s a rehearsal of Stravinsky’s The Soldier’s Tale, but everything is off. The musicians, the set , the music itself, are all over the place. The very least we could say is that the recording is not going well.

The Soldier’s Tale is already a piece of music that practically begs the devil for trouble, but in this case the devil shows up to deliver it personally!  The timbres of the instruments take unexpected liberties, the hectic rhythm stumbles toward catastrophe, the musicians and their conductor are crumbling under the weight of their struggles. Stravinsky himself abandons hope and sinks willingly into the chaos.

Jos Houben’s smart and funny staging, reminiscent of a Jacques Tati film, guides us gently along the edge of a burlesque folly.

From out of nowhere, voices speak to us about the music. Then these voices blend through the disoriented conversation of a couple in a car, on their way to attend a show where they will never arrive. In the theater, the spectators no longer know where to lend their ears, transported by the auditory thrill of these unknown worlds.