Reviews

The full title to this presentation should leave punters in no doubt regarding what they’re going to get and whether it should appeal to them. On the other hand, it also seems fair to warn that those with no stomach for cheerfully adolescent vulgarity (there really are such people, so they say) should probably go elsewhere to find an evening’s entertainment. For the rest of us forever-young-and-childish Eighties-addicts, “Sunglasses at Night” will hit the spot.

To a mostly live, powerful accompaniment composed by Brendan Woithe, played by the Zephyr Quartet, and sung by Karen Cummings and Heru Pinkasova, a troupe of nine dancers performed the world premiere in Canberra of The Beginning of Nature, the full-length (80-minute) version of a new work that patterns itself on various aspects of the natural world.

For those who have never heard of her, Yma Sumac is the legendary Peruvian soprano who was said to have been a descendent of the last Inca Emperor. Possessing an astounding five octave range, she passed away in 2008 at the age of 85.

Beginning her career in Peru, she became famous in America, then travelled to Russia and Europe before returning to the States.

Molière’s play is set in the bedchamber of Argan, a rich, neurotic and gullible man who employs adoctor and an apothecary who treat his imaginary illnesses on a full-time basis because of the lucrative fees they can charge. Add a greedy wife, a sleazy lawyer, an outspoken maid and a petulant daughter and you have the makings of a comedy that fits the genre in which Moliere chose to write, one that is based on double images – wise and foolish, right and wrong, good and bad.