Rapture: a Song Cycle of Desire and Ecstasy, Murder and Mayhem

Before Rapture begins on the new Sydney Festival stage at Barangaroo, the host Yumi Stynes prepares the audience. This work, she says, is a musical that the producers hope will soon be staged. Tonight, it’s a concert version without a narrative but instead brought together as a series of songs with dark themes of desire and murder. You can see why the producers wanted to adjust expectations - it’s not an immediately accessible performance. And while there are stunning moments, this concert is unlikely to resonate for many but the most fervent fans of the two lead performers.

Paul Capsis and iOTA are introduced as icons of the independent theatre scene and that they are. Two unusual performers with wonderful voices and fascinating personas, who are each responsible for a number of stunning performances over the past twenty years. iOTA’s Smoke and Mirrors cabaret and Capsis’s play about his grandmother Angela’s Kitchen are both brilliant works of art. Their fans here at the concert are excited to see them together, singing the songs of famous artists including Blondie and Megan Washington. But the show doesn’t live up to its promise, whether it’s the lack of a narrative or indeed because it feels too theatrical to be staged at an outdoor venue for 1500 people. It’s difficult to be drawn into the themes of murder and mayhem on the bright mainstage of the festival with the harbour as a backdrop. The work seems displaced.

Many of the songs are written for this show by Washington and Deborah Conway - as well as Peter Farnan, Willy Zygier, Jethro Woodward and iOTA himself. But others are established hits by the likes of The Kinks, Freddie Mercury and Leo Sayer.

The Blondie Song “Rapture” is reinterpreted, becoming much edgier and losing the poppiness that made it a number one hit. It feels like more of a passion project for the artists rather than a performance for the audience, although it did impress some, drawing a large cheer. More successful is a stunning iOTA performance of Mercury’s “You Take My Breath Away” (wow, what a voice iOTA has!), as well as a haunting version of The Loved Ones’ “Sad Dark Eyes”.

The newer songs offer some touching moments but are on the whole less memorable, often dark, with discordant violins or overly dramatic vocalisations. Perhaps they will work better in a theatre with a narrative.

It’s wonderful to see a collaboration between these two performers and the director Michael Kantor. And festivals are about experimentation. But it’s hard to connect with this work in concert form on the major Sydney Festival stage. Here’s hoping it benefits from more development.

Peter Gotting

Photographer: Bianca Di Marchi

Read more Sydney Festival reviews