A chilling , thrilling performance by legendary theatre star Robyn Archer who was in magnificent form , towering and charismatic at the City Recital hall .In some ways you could perhaps call it a mesmerising , in parts menacing ‘musical lecture’ as Archer introduced and placed the songs in historical context and then performed them.
We are asked to imagine we have been transported to the Tingel-Tangel Kabarett in Berlin, roughly around 1930 or so.
DANCING ON THE VOLCANO, is a name often used for the period of the renaissance of cabaret in Germany between 1919 and 1933. Social comment and criticism through various art forms grew out of a time of political upheaval and rebellion between the two World Wars . The Weimar Republic produced composers and poets, none more associated with this era than Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill. Their collaborations emphasised the need for dark humour during those uncertain, rather sinister times, prompting many protests from the right wing Nazi movement.
In collaboration with Michael Morley on piano and George Butrumlis on accordion, Archer provides us with a lesson in German history via the words and music of composers such as Hanns Eisler, Friedrich Hollaender, Kurt Tucholsky, Henrich Heine and of course Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill (with several selections from their Three Penny Opera featuring a snapping , razor sharp Mack The Knife among others). Most songs were sung at the beginning in German then switching to English, (where appropriate) and Archer’s commentary placed the music in context . We gather that extensive research has been undertaken, at least in part by pianist, Michael Morley, according to some of Archer’s comments. He and accordionist George Butrumlis provided apt, perceptive backing throughout the show.
DANCING ON THE VOLCANO examines how cabaret of the era included possibly dangerous political satire as well as examining the darker facets of the human identity – murder, sexuality, and obsession. Many of the pieces are deftly performed with a superficial, cynical sparkle, but tell tales of child murderers and the disintegration of society.( eg Bertolt Brecht’s Apfelboeck, about a boy who murdered his mother (for which Archer gave a rather surprising Australian twist.).
The concert begins innocuously enough, with delightful, somewhat risque numbers like Kurt Tucholsky’s Anna Luise, which focuses on a man’s rather bawdy memories. However, it is not long before we find ourselves tumbling into darker areas, with stories of Berlin’s seedy underworld and criminal conduct .
The concert’s middle section included a bawdy song about a drunken sailor (with Australian connections) by Wilhelm Grosz ( best known perhaps for Red Sails in the Sunset) , and a medley of his sentimental English-language songs written after he fled Germany and became Hugh Williams .We also heard Hollaender’s witty Kitsch Tango, which satirised the fashion for sappy songs .The one song delivered only in German, Hollaender’s Eine Kleine Sehnsucht (A Little Yearning) was delivered with indisputable sorrow. Walter Mehring‘s spoken The Stock Exchange Song (the music apparently cannot be traced anywhere) viciously censures the causes of the Great Depression. And I mustn’t forget the Marlene Dietrich staple Friedrich Hollaender’s ironically sentimental Falling in Love Again, from Der Blaue Engel (The Blue Angel) .
The black humour of some of the various songs came with choreographed ,stylised gestures .The mood became bloodthirsty and desperate with Falladah, a song by Brecht and Hanns Eisler about a horse that’s butchered by a starving mob when it collapses .
Archer presented a chilling,disturbing rendition of Friedrich Hollaender’s The Jews (to a much loved tune from Bizet’s Carmen ) – her gestures becoming the infamous head and fist shaking of a particular malevolent megalomaniac German leader which greatly unnerves the audience when she lays the blame on multiple minorities in a final rant .
Just before the end Archer gives a quick grim and depressing rundown of the fate of some of the poets and composers whose work has been performed. Archer’s purpose in this performance is not so much to recreate or celebrate an era of extraordinary creativity but to warn us of the possibility of history repeating itself with the extreme right trying to close democratic liberties and human rights globally now, while pretending to promise “growth and jobs”.
We are perhaps given a glimpse of hope as the trio for an encore concludes with Brecht and Eisler’s in the jaunty ,wistful Bilbao Song.
Robyn Archer in Dancing on the Volcano was at City Recital Hall one night only 22 August 2018
Singer: Robyn Archer
Piano: Michael Morley
Accordion: George Butrumlis