co-production by Bedroom Community and VaVaVoom Theatre
premiered in 2014 Reykjavík Arts Festival
premiered in 2014 Reykjavík Arts Festival
Wide Slumber is an evening-length music theatre performance weaving together live music composed by Valgeir Sigurðsson with visuals crafted by VaVaVoom Theatre (S. Sunna Reynisdóttir & Sara Martí). Wide Slumber pairs sleep and dream studies with lepidoptery (the study of butterflies and moths), exploring the theme of metamorphosis. The audience is lulled into a world where the borders between dreams and reality become blurred. The piece is inspired by the award-winning poetic fantasia Wide Slumber for Lepidopterists by a rawlings. An ensemble of four musicians, three singers and a performer shares the stage to create a poetic microcosmos through live music, puppetry, moving scenography and video projections.
REVIEW EXCERPTS
“[T]he staging was extremely successful and lighting and video design fantastic (...) the music was well composed, some of the best I’ve heard from Valgeir (...) The successful costumes are well worth mentioning as well as the innovative set design. (...) The performers do a fantastic job, Sasha Siem is a great singer, mechanical - but not cold, Alexi Murdoch rough and drowsy and Ásgerður Júníusdóttir decisive and academic - the voices are different but work well together (...) outstanding entertainment, a true feast for eyes and ears, a performance I can not stop thinking about and long for seeing again and again” MBL, 4.5 stars, MORGUNBLAÐIÐ, Á.M.
“Sigurðsson's music was entrancing and hypnotic (...) the singing was fantastic and the accompanying live music no less (...) Berger's set was elaborate and unusual (...) Einarsdóttir's costumes beautiful and exciting (...) Unforgettable are the snow white trees which gradually grew on the back wall, the arms which surrounded and played on Alexi's body, wonderful the scene where the butterfly Sunna Reynisdóttir emerges from its pupa in a burst of colours and when she wraps Alexi in silky threads. These groups (VaVaVoom & Bedroom Community) are practically able to create wizardry, as one witnessed repeatedly” TÍMARIT MÁLS OG MENNINGAR, S.A.
"a fantasia of poetry and colours, a mind expanding music - and visual performance which opens doors into the inner and outer world of all that is" (!!!) DV, H.A.
“A great and magnificent weaving takes place onstage (...) extremely well done, both by singers, musicians and composer”
VÍÐSJÁ, Þ.E.S.
“Sigurðsson's music was entrancing and hypnotic (...) the singing was fantastic and the accompanying live music no less (...) Berger's set was elaborate and unusual (...) Einarsdóttir's costumes beautiful and exciting (...) Unforgettable are the snow white trees which gradually grew on the back wall, the arms which surrounded and played on Alexi's body, wonderful the scene where the butterfly Sunna Reynisdóttir emerges from its pupa in a burst of colours and when she wraps Alexi in silky threads. These groups (VaVaVoom & Bedroom Community) are practically able to create wizardry, as one witnessed repeatedly” TÍMARIT MÁLS OG MENNINGAR, S.A.
"a fantasia of poetry and colours, a mind expanding music - and visual performance which opens doors into the inner and outer world of all that is" (!!!) DV, H.A.
“A great and magnificent weaving takes place onstage (...) extremely well done, both by singers, musicians and composer”
VÍÐSJÁ, Þ.E.S.