Sunday 11 October 2015

When Angels Become Real


Lisa Porter, October 8 Future Perfect

Porter says her programme notes that Klee's Angelus Novus
sparked some of Bruton's inspiration for the costumes.
Lisa Porter is to be commended for assembling such a talented crew.  Lori Clarke was both a collaborator/performer and was responsible for the score.  Her fellow collaborator/performer was Andrea Tucker.  Now, who was the human and whom the angel?  They were both lyrical and yet strong–an aspect that was enhanced by Kelly Bruton's timeless costumes.  I was reminded of images of Diana the huntress with both flowing robes and armor. 

There is an intriguing quality of conflict here: the angel blown from Paradise, wings wounded, backwards into the future.  Porter's choreography and the improvisational nature of this piece leave a lot of ambiguity, fertile grey shadows or room for our imaginations.

Walter Benjamin is also quoted in the program see the tattoo for the quote.


The St. John's Vocal Exploration Gatherings under the direction of Chris Tonelli was also a very strong presence in this production.  So much so that if I had one temptation to resist while viewing Future Perfect it was the desire to close my eyes so that I could better concentrate on the choir sounds, which were simply ravishing.

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