Little Match Girl Passion

Cryptic, the art house responsible for the production of Little Match Girl Passion, are described as a company that ‘ravish the senses, with performances that fuse music, dance, sonic art and multimedia.’ Indeed, this production incorporates many of these elements but to say that one’s senses are ‘ravished’, is perhaps too strong a term. For the musically inclined this is no doubt a feast: Little Match Girl Passion was awarded the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for music. However, the untrained ear and the average theatergoer will probably be quite underwhelmed and ultimately, a little bit bored.

The first half of this production, entitled World to Come, is a solo cello piece performed in conjunction with an experimental video that manipulates light and shadow in a way that is interesting and captivating at first but that becomes monotonous as the piece wears on. To make such a film probably requires a lot of time and effort but this simply isn’t reflected in the final product.

The cellist is clearly talented but the performance lacks an energy that would, if achieved, make it a more enjoyable auditory and visual experience. The second half of the production brings an experimental adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen’s classic tale of The Little Match Girl  ‘interspersing Andersen’s narrative with David Lang’s versions of the crowd and character responses from Bach’s Passion.’ Director Josh Armstrong aims to strip back the original images that Andersen’s story evokes –‘Christmas trees and waddling roast geese’ and he does achieve this; this performance is raw, gritty and at times stark. One expects to be emotionally roused given the tragic elements of Andersen’s narrative, and this production is indeed very well executed and rehearsed both in its musical and movement-based elements. Despite this, an emotional connection is somewhat lacking.

The Little Match Girl herself is a distant figure, placed on a raised platform and behind a semi-transparent gauze, her beautiful and fragile movement are removed from the audience’s immediate gaze. The musical performances of the characters in the domestic setting - performances that are accurate and polished but somehow unconvincing dramatically - take centre stage. To forge more of an emotional connection with the audience, it would be an interesting move to bring the young girl forward to allow her more of an identity, to allow glimpses of a face and not just a body in order to render her pain more human.