Love Is My Sin

...and thy dear virtue hate,
Hate of my sin, grounded on sinful loving... - William Shakespeare, Sonnet 142

This masterful merry-go-round of ideas as opposite as love and hate, sin and virtue and then linking love and sin, and (dear!) virtue and hate. - Would we still be capable of creating something like it nowadays?!

"I am a great sinner"

Pope Francis. 

Emmanuel Levinas' only complaint about the Roman Catholic faith was that it loves the sin too much. Yet later he confessed to Jacques Derrida that the difference between him and  the lecturer they were both listening to, was that he was Protestant, whereas he, Levinas, was Catholic...

Iedereen is van de wereld - everybody is of this world

This one goes out to the fabulous people sitting next to me during Love Is My Sin, with whom I had a lovely conversation about building a snowman and why it ought to be a carrot for a nose (if you haven't got one) and how a five-year old should know!!! It's been wonderful sharing this performance with you and seeing the sparkle in your eyes!!!
In het donker kan ik jou niet zien, maar ik weet dat jij daar staat (in the dark I cannot see you, but I know that you are standing there)!!

 And probably I was one of the misfits ;-)!!!

Greetings from my lovely daughter Debora to everybody reading this!!

Kann denn Liebe Sünde sein? - Turning the page

Interestingly some reviewers Of Love Is My Sin believe that the Sonnets are just read, but this is not the case, in fact it is quite obvious that both actors have learned the lines by heart. Nevertheless the Sonnets are also present in writing, but the turning of the pages is but an element of the play and for all I've noticed nobody actually reads anything.

Kann denn Liebe Sünde sein? - the soundtrack

Franck Krawczyk accompanied Love is My Sin by playing music by Louis Couperin on the accordion (he (ab)used also to make some background noises :-)) and on the keyboard. My choice of the absolute most erotic song (and my husband agrees apparently ;-)) is this one

Another one coming to my mind, because Franck Krawczyk also sang once, but although he displayed a melodious voice, it regretfully did not carry very far. Yet as far as I could catch it, it must have been a German song, the only word intelligible being "Schlaf" / "Sleep". Here there is a Dutch song entitled "Slaap lekker"/"Sleep tight", there is also an accordion in it and the beginning of the video should be familiar ;-)

Kann denn Liebe Sünde sein? - Dürer was right

As Peter Brook pointed out, there was an air of sadness, I'd rather say melancholy, prevailing in Love is My Sin, thus Dürer is right in calling melancholy the humour of the artist. And yet there is a deeper meaning to this melancholy and both Emmanuel Levinas and Jacques Derrida hint at it. Is it any wonder btw that Peter Brook was also talking of deconstruction?! I would very much recommend reading the wonderful essay "Memoirs of the Blind: The Self-Portrait and other Ruins"/"Memoires d'Aveugle.L'Autoportrait et autres Ruines" by Derrida, in fact it is contained in a catalogue of an exhibition curated by Derrida and apart from the text, this book also offers reproductions of great works of art. Oddly this essay seems to be reflected in these lines from Sonnet 27:

And keep my drooping eyelids open wide,

Looking on darkness which the blind do see:

Save that my soul's imaginary sight

Presents their shadow to my sightless view,

which was part of the selection performed...

The next lines of the poem means, though unknown before, a lot to me and for that reason almost blew my mind ;-)

Which like a jewel hung in ghastly night

Makes black night beauteous and her old face new.

Kann denn Liebe Sünde sein? - To disprove Jaques - although the correct French spelling would be Jacques!

More yet of Love is My Sin - something to come to terms with that will truly keep me busy for the next weeks. It struck me that the two performers were ageless, though I knew their "real" age being 67 and 80. Jaques' notion of the seven ages of man were completely turned upside down. Natasha Parry was and is a very attractive woman, also physically, what a beautiful face, what  a wonderfully shaped body. And Michael Pennington not only defied Jaques with his appearance but also the flyer of his own one-man show Sweet William, he is hardly heading for second childishness again, oh no, I've seen him there in all three times at once, the past (of which I regretfully know but little, but here virtually all his efforts yet shown), the present and the hopeful future (one might guess what I'm hoping for)!!

BTW there was some scholar bashing going on at the aftershow talk and though I might agree  a lot with it, yet there are some scholars that are rather unusual and deserve a lot of high esteem and hugs for their efforts. To me this is Professor Brian Gibbons, whose seminar and lectures I had the pleasure to attend in Münster!!! Not somebody who gave answers, but somebody who made us think about the possible and impossible, and I loved the way he recited poems, especially one by Beckett. Believe me though there was seemingly little content, a whole frightening, terrible landscape opened up before my eyes, the lecture series was entitled "Landscape and Introspection" !!!

Kann denn Liebe Sünde sein? - To dance the Flamenco or the Tango

The first thing that came to my mind when the performance Love is My Sin began, was that both the garments worn by Michael Pennington and Natasha Parry and the way they moved were suggesting that this would be a highly ritualized, stylized, yet completely passionate dance we would be witnessing, like a Flamenco or a Tango, something that comes quite close to the actual act, simply because the surface is so slight. Probably Condillac's veils shining through again. And the hell it was...

 

The other thing that had been worrying me the day before, which seems pointless here, yet was resolved. I actually was worried if I could combine black stockings and a dark blue dress, and was astonished that Michael Pennington was wearing the same combination ;-)

Added on January 18th, maybe it is a salsa after all as suggested by Triggerfinger in Studio Brussel's new Hot Shot for this week, "Love Lost In Love"!

A messenger from god or the gods

                                                             

Being unable to find any real rest on Friday night after the performance of Love is My Sin, maybe for lack of company, I asked god for a sign. And funnily on Saturday morning he sent one, for when I was waiting for my train at Stratford station, there entered Paul Allen , whom I first encountered  as the person who moderated the talk with Peter Brook the evening before, who on this ocassion referred to himself as Mercury, allegedly (at least to him) as suggested by Peter Brook. So Mercury accompanied me on the train to Birmingham Moor Street and getting off at the same station he still went the same way I had to take to Birmingham New Street. Oddly though the appearance was quite to the contrary he moved very fast, like he actually had wings on his heels. Probably Paul Allen will always be Mercury to me, the messenger from the gods, the god of thieves and merchants.

Kann denn Liebe Sünde sein?

Love is My Sin starring Natasha Parry and Michael Pennington, accompanied by Franck Krawczyk, directed by Peter Brook, enacted at the Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, January 7th 2011...review soon to be added, so far only: It's been overwhelming!!!

Es war furchtbar schön mit vielem Dank an Caravaggio !