Wim Vandekeybus made Puur in 2005 for his own company, Ultima Vez, to premiere first at the Singapore Arts Festival and then in the outstanding natural venue of Carrière de Boulbon, the quarry outside Avignon which gained its place in theatre history by opening with the world premiere of Peter Brook’s Mahabharata in 1985.
Opera Ballet Vlaanderen’s revival of the work by Vandekeybus seems to have been made distinct from the original by the capitalisation of the title (PUUR) and although none of the original cast appear live in this revived stage performance their continued participation is guaranteed through the original film that is closely integrated with the live performance.
This film was effectively shot to meld scenes from (I assume) Palestine in both biblical times and modern day (for example, a man firing a pistol aimlessly through the windowless opening in a hut); the immersion of babies in water; and naked men running joyfully along a beach. At no time did I perceive any distance in time between the filming in 2005 and the present day and PUUR is indebted to two separate groups of performers (the 13 who made the original work and whose presence remains embedded in the film, and the 16 who performed live on stage at Opera Gent).
I was tempted to describe PUUR as an emotional roller-coaster but that implies there were highs as well as lows and, although there are brief moments of euphoria (such as those naked men on a beach), an onslaught of myriad images of despair overwhelm the work. This is unsurprising since Vandekeybus was inspired by the biblical story of Herod’s brutal ‘Massacre of the Innocents’, notably through Peter Paul Rubens’ eponymous painting, amongst other accounts of infanticide (such as in Hinduism with the mass slaughter of children followed by the birth of Krishna).
PUUR is vocal text heavy although the speech comes in concentrated bursts, and it didn’t always feel that the dancers were comfortable with the spoken word. Histrionics seemed forced, unnatural and softer-spoken passages were often difficult to hear. This was not the case with Daniel Copeland, an actor in the key role as the Gatekeeper, who spoke clearly and meaningfully throughout, and as a large man (I think I can say that as a large man myself) he moved with remarkable fluency. This Gatekeeper appears to be the link between past and present, between memory and reality, in a work that concerns the cycle of birth, death and rebirth.
Three men, “the leaders” (Tiemen Bormans, Brent Daneels and Willem-Jan Sas) seem to hold all the power. At one point, they stepped from the stage onto the covered area of the orchestra pit in order to hold a confidential conference about what to do next. The fourth wall is routinely breached by performers stepping off the stage to sit in the front row. It was easy to forget this and then wonder why audience members were climbing onto the stage!
PUUR is a space where dead children can meet their mothers and return as adults to confront their murderers. Where the leaders create confined spaces to hold mothers and their children hostage (within a circle of white stones and a semi-circle of hanging white poles, for example). Through the film, the audience learns of the plague of locusts (another biblical reference) that threatens in the outside world. The biblical allusion to Herod is further emphasised with spoken declarations of innocence (“I just didn’t do it").
Vandekeybus chose music from Fausto Romitelli, an Italian composer who died tragically young, at just 41, prior to the work’s premiere. PUUR demonstrates his versatility with influences of Ligeti and Stockhausen clear in visceral, scratchy, mechanistic music (rather like an orchestra warming up) and evocations of progressive rock (his music sits alongside rock songs by the American musician, David Eugene Edwards) and, yet, at times the music possessed a surprisingly melodic harmony.
The dancers were outstanding, not just in dance but also as acrobats and jugglers. They routinely threw large white poles to each other, in a group, from one side of the stage to the other, several metres high, with rarely a dropped catch amongst hundreds of throws. They balanced on each other’s backs. And they simulated murder in different ways: mothers suffocating their children with pillows; men impaling women on the aforementioned white poles. At just short of two hours without an interval, PUUR is a work that pays no heed to the needs of ageing bladders.
At the end, I was asked if I enjoyed it and I had to think hard about a response. By its very nature PUUR is not to be enjoyed but absorbed and it is most certainly challenging.
Perhaps the saddest thing is that Vandekeybus was heavily influenced towards despondency by the way of the world in 2005 and PUUR is all the more relevant today as children are brutally murdered, by guns, bombs and rockets, on a daily basis.
Graham's trip was funded by Opera Ballet Vlaanderen
