News Update: DAVIES & GUT
March 1, 2006
Canadian Spoken Word artist, Myra Davies was in Berlin recently for
a new work creative session with Electronica composer and broadcaster,
Gudrun Gut.
Gut and Davies, co-creators of The Miasma Project (1991-2003), have
evolved a signature style in which Davies’ sexy and often twisted
story-telling merges with the urban throb of Gut’s Electronic
sound. Now they are moving in a new direction.
Their current project is The Forty Minute Ring (working
title) The Ring is the Ring of the Nibelung. Davies & Gut have condensed
the interminable banquet of Wagner’s four opera cycle to a snappy
Ring-lite that clocks in at 33:00 in the demo version. How dare they?
Such impudence -- should not go unrewarded.
Wagner’s Ring is the ultimate ‘Big Gun.’ The most
grandiose and expensive piece of theatre in the Western Canon, it is
a work of genius. It is also troubling, as Davies acknowledges in her
opening line: “Nazi Opera! That’s what you’re thinking
isn’t it?”
The Ring in 40 minutes might put one in mind of ‘Europe in 7 days’
but Davies and Gut do manage to tell the whole story and put their own
stamp on it. They have fun with The Ring. The most fun is their makeover
of Brünhilde who is revealed here a sympathetic young woman abused
by the men closest to her in ways familiar to us all. The Ring may be
an old tale but Brünhilde’s struggles with her Nineteenth-century
men, certainly speak to the twenty-first century.
Plans: Now that Davis and Gut have a Demo Version of The Forty Minute
Ring, the next step is to stage the work live.
Funding and support for this project has been provided by:
- The Alberta Foundation for the Arts
- Moabit Musik, Berlin
- The Banff Centre for the Arts
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