Faust, Opera
Faust
1992
About
An original, alternative opera based on the legend of Faust. An original movement language draws on traditional Japanese and Chinese as well as European-based cultures, and investigates by turn its worlds of mythology, feminism, sexuality, nature, religion, and comedy.
The People
Choreographer: Karen Jamieson
Collaborators: Teri Snelgrove of Tamahnous Theatre
Dancers: Hiromoto Ida, Kay Huang, Andrew Olewine, Sarah Chase, and Karen Jamieson
Singers: Mark Donnelly, Robert McQueen, James Fagan Tait, Melanie Whyte, and Sook-Yin Lee
Composer and Writer: Jeff Corness
Librettist: Ian Weir
Video Artist: Jeff Leese
Set Design: Pam Johnson
Costumes: Nancy Bryant
Lighting Design: Gerald King and Borja Brown
Reviews
“Each of the main characters is represented by a singer-dancer pair of performers. The singer tends to represent the actual physical presence of the character, while the corresponding dancer embodies his/her moral, psychological state and expresses the (sub)conscious lust, sympathy, aggression, tenderness, confusion, timidness, and passion.
The visual dichotomy between the two parts of each character infuses the production with insane tension.
The costumes are wild; they somehow manage to invoke everything from the protestant reformation to drag-queen culture.
The not-so-subtle undercurrents also manage to explore sexism, racism, feminism, homoeroticism, intersexual/interracial relationships – Uh, yes. It’s wickedly witty.”
- Yukie Kurahashi
“Faust is infernal fun”
The Ubyssey, January 21, 1992
"Writing an opera, even a new version of an established piece, is an ambitious project. Making that opera into a collaboration of music, dance and theatre is even more ambitious.
Faust, written by Jeff Corness with a libretto by Ian Weir, is billed as alternative opera. A collaboration between Corness, Karen Jamieson and Teri Snelgrove of Tamahnous Theatre, it is currently at Vancouver East Cultural Centre and it is definitely different.
The legend of a man who sells his soul to the devil to gain knowledge is intact but the way Corness and his collaborators choose to tell it is something reminiscent of a Fellini movie, all writhing bodies and decadence. Each character – Mephistopheles, Faust, his servant Valentine, Valentine’s sister Margareta and Archangel Michael – is performed by two people, a singer (for the words, of course) and a dancer to show the inner feeling.
And so Mephistopheles is sung by Sook-Yin Lee and danced by Andrew Olewine, both in mimes-gone-mad makeup, both startling and sensual. Faust is Mark Donnelly and Karen Jamieson, Valentine is Robert McQueen and Kay Huang, Michael is James Fagan Tait and Sarah Chase, and Margareta is Melanie Whyte and Hiromoto Ida.”
- Renee Doruyter
“This is Faust with a definite difference”
The Province, January 24, 1992