Who’s afraid of the big bad wolf? Certainly not me in
the MIF production of Neck of the Woods.
There were far worse things to fear. If you go down to the woods today, you
will be leaving underwhelmed.
On paper, this ‘collaboration’ ticks all the boxes and
garners expectations of something special. An acclaimed casting choice
(Charlotte Rampling), check. A concert pianist (Hélène Grimaud) playing a phenomenal
repertoire, check. An eclectic and culturally diverse choir using their voices
to create the soundscape, check. A new multi-million pound venue to host the
event, check. And all under the reign of a Turner Prize-winning visual artist
(Douglas Gordon) – big check. But, heartbreakingly, no. In fact, there was
barely any collaboration, and these components struggled to come together resulting
in something fractured and unconnected, which is a real shame.
Neck of the Woods is a vague retelling of Little Red Riding Hood, while drawing
on the many different takes of wolf mythology in literature and a very loose
metaphor of the animal of man. “Mostly
wolves represent a bad man […] I think men are worse than wolves,” says Gordon.
The play opens in complete darkness with the sound of
a tree being chopped down with an inevitable crash. This is probably the most
impressive part of the production and, with the almighty sound, the audience is
immediately immersed. The HOME acoustics are so good that it was truly
terrifying.
The production is hugely self-indulgent, with Gordon listed in the programme for concept, direction, design and performance. None of which met par. That’s not completely fair, the concept is very interesting and I think there is something there. As for everything else, I felt it was very safe and riddled with clichés. There’s talk about blood, wolves and snow, so you can bet there was red lighting, fake snow and a fluffy shag pile with a wolf head.
This project clearly hosted a lot of talent. Grimaud’s
playing is a beautiful silver lining to this piece. The Sacred Sounds Women’s
Choir, first formed at MIF 2013, is abundantly talented, but drastically
underused in this production. Rampling did have a few fluffs, but overall I
felt she didn’t have much to work with, which I imagine is quite restrictive.
Regrettably this piece hasn’t met the standard set by other MIF productions, the responsibility for which falls on Douglas as he struggles to harness the hot ball of talent he had at his disposal and utilise it effectively. Instead, he rides on the coattails of other people’s talent and uses it for his own gratification. Douglas is indeed the wolf, and a house of straw or sticks has more solidity than this piece.
Regrettably this piece hasn’t met the standard set by other MIF productions, the responsibility for which falls on Douglas as he struggles to harness the hot ball of talent he had at his disposal and utilise it effectively. Instead, he rides on the coattails of other people’s talent and uses it for his own gratification. Douglas is indeed the wolf, and a house of straw or sticks has more solidity than this piece.
Words: Kate Morris
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