Hinds’s deal with the devil doesn’t go to plan
The Oscar-nominated Ciarán Hinds and an octet of musicians led by Joanne Quigley McParland will perform The Soldiers Tale in Smock Alley, May 31 to June 4. The story, narrated by Hinds and written by the Swiss poet CF Ramuz, is based on a Russian folk tale about a soldier who sells his soul to the devil by exchanging his fiddle for a device that will bring him wealth and happiness. He achieves great riches, cures and marries a beautiful princess, but still hankers to return to his native home. And that leads to his downfall. The music by Stravinsky is a mixture of jazz, tango and ragtime that’s exciting but with an undercurrent of danger in its dissonant tones that are often disquieting. Stravinsky was writing from his experience of having lost everything that was his in Russia during the first World War and the Bolshevik takeover of power. In the first part of the programme there’s music by Astor
Piazzolla and dances from de Falla’s Three Cornered Hat.
■ Also running this week is a production of the musical Singin’ In The Rain, at The Bord Gáis Theatre with all the songs that made the movie such a hit. My main memory of it is the risk of sitting too close to the stage when water is sloshing around during the dance accompanying the main song.
■ The Irish National Opera production of the not-often performed Maria Stuarda by Donizetti plays at The Gaiety for four performances this week before visiting Cork, Wexford and Limerick. It’s about the lethal relationship between Queen Elizabeth the First (Anna Devin) and her cousin Mary Queen of Scots (Tara Erraught). They never actually met, but the libretto, based on the play by the great German writer Schiller, brings them together for a tragic encounter with high-powered voice-straining opportunities all round.