The performance Trabe Dich, Thierlein by Graindelavoix has barely begun when the first protests sound, directed against the blinding light of a slowly rotating spotlight in the otherwise unlit Great Hall of TivoliVredenburg. Shortly afterwards, some visitors leave and gradually the trickle of runaways swells. But after more than an hour and a half, the stayers reward the Belgian ensemble with enthusiastic and warm applause. With such contrary productions, the Early Music Festival once again proves its right to exist. Because looking back and ruminating alone ultimately leads to stagnation and decline.
Singer and artistic director Björn Schmelzer of Graindelavoix inspired Trabe Dich, Thierlein on the tragic and gruesome life story of the despot Ulrich von Württemberg (1487-1550), who blazed a trail of murder and manslaughter through the German lands. His staging underlines the topicality of his subject: during the opening song - recited from the audience rows - heavy body bags are carried onto the stage. A man with a life-size shovel cuts into them, the snapping plastic evoking associations with the brutal executions of the IS.
While the singers recite polyphonic hunting songs and a mass by Heinrich Finck and others in ever-changing formations - illuminating themselves with a construction lamp - the man with the shovel throws lumps of earth onto the stage, which come down with an ominous thud. Pronouncedly sinister is the moment when one of the singers is half-buried under this earth.
Redemption seems to come when a little girl moves towards the man while singing through one of the audience rows and digs him out again, after which he takes her dancing in his arms. When the child then covers the entire stage floor with her white cloak and this immense cloth is suspended from a railing, image associations with Christ on the cross arise. The symbolism - black horror versus white innocence - may be somewhat unambiguous, but it is effective.
That this performance split minds is understandable because, as one man next to me said, "I came for music, not a theatre performance. Trabe Dich, Thierlein also raises the question of the extent to which art should be immediately interpretable, because those who had not read the programme book had no idea what it was about. For some, this is unpalatable, while others gratefully accept the possibility of giving their own interpretation to what is on offer. This project certainly gave food for thought.
Mission accomplished, then? Only partly, because a theatre production stands or falls with the performance. And that is where the performance was lacking. The Graindelavoix singers are clearly not actors and move around the stage somewhat uncomfortably. Sometimes they walked so chaotically that it seemed as if they were still rehearsing. The singing itself was also very variable in quality. Especially in the beginning, the singers were often uneven and their intonation sounded impure.
Also, in the long run, the pieces (by eight different composers) were too uniform to remain captivating. But with some solid cuts, good (people) direction and a bit more rehearsal time, Trabe Dich, Thierlein could still grow into a full-fledged festival production.
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