Review: SONGS FOR THE FALLEN Recounts The Life Of Famous Courtesan Marie DuPlessis For SYDNEY FESTIVAL

Tuesday 19th 2016, 10:30pm, The Famous Spiegeltent, Hyde Park

The inspiration for Alexandre Dumas' novel 'La Dame Aux Camelias' and later Verdi's La Traviata, Marie DuPlessis shares her story with SYDNEY FESTIVAL in SONGS FOR THE FALLEN. With a heaving bust, the ailing courtesan invites the audience into her boudoir to celebrate her 23rd birthday and listen to her life story.

The more intimate "Famous Spiegeltent" stage has been transformed with a circular bed dressed with a multitude of feather pillows and velvet drapes. Composer and Sound Designer Basil Hogios is positioned onstage with a range of electronic and percussion instruments. A painter's easel with the sign "Prologue" alludes to this cabaret being a progressive story. The use of a traditional stage space does however means that the audience is seated in the center of the Speigelent and sightlines are restricted from the booths that line the tent.

In corset, frilly knickers, lace stockings, and black pompadour curls, Sheridan Harbridge creates the young French escort, complete with French accent, at least to start. She is joined by Ben Gerrard and Garth Holcombe who provide roles of narrator, lovers, servants, and even hallucinations. The first song, described as "why do we love it when sluts go wild" sets the tone for the night both in the musical stylings of blends of genres and that this is going to be a no holds barred bawdy show, if Harbridge's attire didn't' already convey that message.

Harbridge has a wonderfully cheeky presence with nuanced expressions and strong vocals. Gerrard and Holcombe give the men in Marie's life an energy and comedy. Holcombe is delightful as the narrator trying to translate the French and Gerrard expresses the camp servant with devotion and sensitivity.

This is a clever blend of history, comedy and social commentary. There are ongoing allusions to Baz Luhrmann's Moulin Rouge!, another popular work based on DuPlessis' life, as Harbridge comes to a number of outrageous "The greatest thing you'll ever learn is..." revelations. The work, at 90 minutes, does drag on a little and could do with tightening and reduction in repetition as themes are revisited.

SONGS FOR THE FALLEN is a fun filled blend of education and entertainment that lets the audience see the world through the eyes of a 'fallen woman', courtesan, prostitute, and whore, Marie DuPlessis. It gives and honesty and 'reality' that is romanticized in the stories, operas and movies that she inspired.

SONGS FOR THE FALLEN

SYDNEY FESTIVAL

19-24 January 2016 10:30pm

Auslan Interpreted performance 23 January