| The Scandalous Story of Egon Schiele by Geoff Moore |
| First presented in 2003 by Moving Being Productions |
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cast size:2
synopsis: Based on an episode in the life of the austrian artist |
There are 2 reviews of Moving Being Productions's The Scandalous Story of Egon Schiele in our database:
| radio 4 made flesh | |
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The Scandalous Story of Egon Schiele
by Geoff Moore
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[print] |
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venue Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff |
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November 20, 2003 |
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| Entering individually as themselves, bikes and rucksacks in toe, performers Marc Rees and Merega Palser sit at a table to begin the day. With a commentary by two men discussing and reading excerpts from the diaries of early C20th Austrian artist Egon Schiele, the performance is like Radio 4 made flesh, the viewer drifting in and out of concentration on the words. On two large projection screens and two televisions different pre-recorded video footage of the two performers plays out, combined with moments captured by live camera beautifully fading in and out of images of Egon Schiele’s original work. The choreography and lens work complimented each other by not being overly busy, allowing the eye to wander gently around the scene never missing anything happening in a different area, even if you didn’t quite catch it. Some parts were repeated or continued for quite a long time, which worked visually, as it was left to the viewer to choose upon which action to focus, and allowed time to take it all in, and related to the way the viewer as a listener dips in and out of the audio discussion, building a general picture. There were plenty of laughs present but the first night audience was shy in the presence of the classic and the great such as Debussy, Schubert, and Klimt, and perhaps found this an awkward juxtaposition with explicit and erotic choreography and irreverent music from the (fantastic) Peaches, YeahYeahYeahs and suchlike! I certainly laughed when the discussion turned to the subject of Shiele’s marriage to a woman ‘more appropriate’ than Valerie after the whole piece had been about the intensity and passion of their artistic and romantic relationship, and a woman chipped in ‘He was a bastard to her’ or words to that effect. Her contribution to the debate about Schiele’s arrest and imprisonment for the creation of erotic imagery was mostly derogatory towards Schiele, whereas the other voices seemed to regard him and Valerie as two people ahead of their time, misunderstood by their society. This show raised the issue for me of the ‘tortured artist’ and how today we often hold such people in low regard, judging them as pretenders, clichés, aspiring to nothing more than an image of depth. But in the days before ‘everyone’s an artist’, before television, cinema, and all the things prosperous modern life allows us to enjoy, to be incarcerated and denied the basic right to freedom of expression with even a simple pencil, would certainly be torturous to a genuine artist driven by an inexplicable compulsion to create. The artist cannot help but go against the grain of his or her society and in Schiele’s time this condition was evidently considerably more dangerous than it is now. Although only imprisoned for a matter of weeks, the effect the sentence had on Schiele was devastating. Overall the piece is a kind of meandering portrait not just of Schiele and his muse but also a day in the life of an artist in the studio where anything can happen: experimenting, imagining, playing and trying things out, rounded by the exit of the performers in their own clothes - bikes and rucksacks - after a quick end-of-the-day tidy up and a beer. |
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| reviewer: Zoe Hewett |
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The Scandalous Story of Egon Schiele
by Geoff Moore
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[print] |
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venue Chapter Arts Centre |
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November 21, 2003 |
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| Egon Schiele was born in Austria in 1890 and died of the Spanish Flu at just twenty-eight years of age, shortly after his wife had died of the same disease. His father went mad and died when he was a boy. He clearly cared a lot for his father and very little for his mother. Whether this contributed to his narcissistic sexuality and passion for drawing is a matter for another discussion. He was the complete bohemian, an independent free spirit, and a great draughtsman with little or no care for any one or anything outside his own close circle. He was an admirer of the great Gustav Klimt. Klimt was impressed by Schiele’s work and introduced him to the Viennese art world where he would prosper. Klimt also gave him one of his favourite and close models, Valerie Neuzil. In 1912 their exotic behaviour and Schiele’s preoccupation with pubescent young girls as models and the almost pornographic way in which he presented them in his paintings resulted in his being imprisoned but for only three days! Long enough for his overwhelming persecution complex to produce some extraordinary outbursts. When the opportunity for Schiele to marry into middle class security presented itself he dumped Valerie for a bit of posh totty. Both Schiele and his wife died only a few years afterwards. This production is Moving Being Artistic director, Geoff Moore’s homage to Egon Schiele. Schiele and his model/mistress are represented by dance-performers Marega Palser and Marc Rees. They capture the passion and sensuality of the relationship with movement and creativity as strong as any major work of art. The commitment and high quality of their work are quite the most rewarding aspects of the production. But this is Moving Being, we’re in multi-media land and there’s much more on offer. Most of the information above is gleaned from the voice-over presentation. Three modern day thirty somethings, as well as filling in bits of the biography, set up an ironic banter about the whole proceedings. There is a degree of amusement and counter balance to be gained from this but to my mind it does little to enhance the main action. The brilliant physicality of the live performers is much better underlined by the video presentation (some live and some pre-recorded) where we see even more intimate movement from the wonderful dancers intermixed with some of Schiele’s remarkable paintings. This is a strong and compelling production, carefully put together, with each contributor bringing their differing excellencies to help complete the overall success of the work. |
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| reviewer: Michael Kelligan |
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