In concerto_500.jpgkeeping you all up-to-date on the theater festival, I went to Concerto en Laminoir (a play on words that sounds like "Concerto in A Minor," but "laminoir" actually means "flat rolling," or the process used to flatten out sheet metal, and that word also sounds like "the dark mine") last night. More information about any of the plays can be found on the festival's site.

It takes place backstage of a classical music concert, where three singers and a pianist (two brothers and their wives) enter and exit in different formations and discuss religion, gossip, sexuality, and possibly selling the music hall, which was left to one of the brothers by their mother who recently died, causing one of the brothers to come out but not to divorce.

It was a humorous text in the Oscar Wilde vein, as in most of the time was spent discussing bigger ideas and saying catchy phrases while entering and exiting the stage.

I do wonder about the end of the play, and, like another play I saw at this festival, the ending was kind of fast and meaningless in the larger context of the play. I'm beginning to get the impression that writing an ending to a play is harder than writing any of the other parts, and since this is a festival that's show-casing only new works, I'd imagine a few of them are still working out some of the text's finer details.

The performances were stilted and several of the actors could have stood a bit more rehearsal. The decor was great, though, complete with four desks, two facing the audience and two with mirrors so the audience could keep their eyes on the actors. And the costumes were great too.

Overall, a good time.

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