Elizabeth 1: The Last Dance.

WORLD PREMIERE SCREENING Nendie Pinto-Duschinsky’s film of

Lindsay Kemp Elizabeth I: last dance

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Director’s Note One of the most incredible things about filming with Lindsay and his company in Japan was the procession of Japanese dignitaries that came to Lindsay’s dressing room every night after the show. On the first night, Lindsay was introduced to a master wig-maker from Tokyo who had sponsored the show. The wig-maker cried instantly upon being introduced to Lindsay and I did not doubt his sincerity when he said through a translator that this was the greatest moment of his life. Each night famous Kabuki actors, celebrities and pop stars would queue in the corridor to meet Lindsay. One night, Princess Takamadomiya, a senior member of the Japanese Imperial Family arrived to spend time with Lindsay. (She had previously had a reception for the company in the Royal Palace in Tokyo).

About ten or fifteen security guards stood in the corridor and she greeted Lindsay with great joy. (The Princess speaks perfect English having studied at Cambridge).

I went to a silk shop to buy a small gift and mentioned I was filming Lindsay’s work. The owner was beside himself with excitement, this happened time and again.The huge Bunkamura theatre in Shibuya was packed night after night, the tickets starting at £70 a head. If ever a country has truly understood and cherished Lindsay it is Japan. I believe this is why his performance is so spectacular in the masterpiece you are about to see.

Nendie Pinto-Duschinsky Nendie Pinto-Duschinsky is an artist and film maker based in London, UK. Elizabeth 1: The Last Dance was filmed in Tokyo in 2008 as part of her forthcoming feature documentary Lindsay Kemp’s Last Dance.

For more information please check the Facebook page: http://tinyurl.com/kempdoc2014 https://twitter.com/LindsayKempDoc www.lindsaykempslastdance.com http://www.saatchiart.com/nendiepintoduschinsky Join the mailing list or email Nendie at info@lindsaykempslastdance.com

Elizabeth & Me What makes me choose a subject for a new show or a new role to play? It’s never a consciously worked-out process. It’s more as though the character, sooner or later, chooses me… and suddenly I’m thrown inside the process of identification and possessed.

So why Elizabeth? Maybe it’s partly to do with the operas I’ve been directing in recent years… Purcell’s The Fairy Queen and Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream evoking the Elizabethan world: theatre, magic and madness, supernatural queens trapped in love’s invisible nets. But also, set in different worlds, Madame Butterfly and La Traviata, two examples of the kind of heroic madness that has always inspired me: where a passionate inner vision battles against all exterior obstacles, including reality itself, and then transforms its inevitable defeat into a triumphantly tragic victory. And also, indeed, the world of opera as an art form: the fusion of music, dance and drama.

But of course, all my futures come from my past. My fascination with Elizabeth dates from a precise moment: the day when, at the age of six, my mother took me to the Imperial Cinema in South Shields to see Bette Davis and Errol Flynn in The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex and as soon as I returned home I performed the whole film in the living room, convinced that I was Errol Flynn, Bette Davis and Elizabeth the first (all at once or separately). Afterwards came The Virgin Queen, again with Bette Davis… and the extravagant figure of Elizabeth came to form a permanent part of my identity. The attraction (apart from featuring my favourite period costumes!) was the incredible tension and confusion between her public and private lives, and her mythical status as Gloriana, The Virgin Queen: the symbol of that great flowering of English culture, the Elizabethan Age, Shakespeare, the theatre…

She was also, as she often proclaimed, a woman playing a man’s role… and in the theatre she watched men playing women’s roles: the appeal of gender transcending was hovering somewhere in there too, calling me as it so often has. At any rate, for whatever reasons, Elizabeth it was who chose me.

The image that sparked the show off in my mind (and starts the show off too) was that of the Queen in the last moments of her life, when she stood totally immobile and unapproachable in the midst of her court for hours on end, reliving the loves and dramas of her whole long life, and then suddenly called for music and began to dance to ward off the approach of death. Dancing in order to live. The years pass for me too, and although I hope not to reach the point she was at for some time yet (!), I could feel the affinities. The past lived in the present has always inspired me, onstage and off… looking forward towards the past and looking back towards the future.

Something similar happens with the company I have gathered around me for this production: many of my most important collaborators of the last twenty years (David Haughton, Carlos Miranda, Nuria Moreno, Marco Berriel, François Testory) mixed with exciting new talents.

And my reunion with Sandy Powell and her costumes, 24 years and two Oscars later, is another example of time’s interweavings.

I have always tried to live as though each moment might be the last, and always tried to encourage others to do the same thing. Maybe in the end that’s what I’m trying to say with my latest self-portrait as Elizabeth the First, through a synthesis of a whole lifetime spent blending together the scenic arts: that each moment is a dance which should always be lived as though it were the last dance.

LINDSAY KEMP

Notes on the Music When Kemp commissioned me ten years ago to write the music for his new work: Elizabeth I: The Last Dance, I thought at once not to merely dress the show entirely with pastiche music, although the Elizabethan flavour could be aroused, but also retaining altogether a subversive yet sustained musical concordance. The agreed genre was of a dance pantomime with operatic tones which Kemp was well disposed to, having recently directed several operas, even if we both knew well that the sole non-singer on stage would be the work’s centrepiece.

As a matter of fact, in Elizabeth’s romantic scene with Essex, the ‘aria’ that the young man sings ‘with’ his beloved Queen is in fact a ‘duet’, with a clear composite of musical lines intoned by the violin section and the solo baritone in counterpoint, as Kemp knows so well how to embody the barcarolle strains of the violins with his uniquely expressive dance gestures.

When writing for this idiosyncratic form of theatre, my inspiration and choices tend to become kaleidoscopical and synesthetic, reflecting today’s awareness of, and accessibility to, a myriad of art forms and their historical periods at the touch of a - wisely guided - computer keyboard click. Thus, I offer visions and revisitations of anything from drums, krumhorns, theorba and viols; Southamerican tropicana; lush classical orchestra textures... to psychedelic drones and elements of musique concrète, all blended in, with my sole intuition.

When devising the whole work within and around the subject matter: that wondrous and complex period in history where the arts and culture flourished along with Elizabeth’s great guile in welcoming the courtship of her political suitors without yielding to any of them (thus establishing her strong political magnitude by force of her ‘invincible’ war machine) we intended to encompass its essence and contours, its grandeurs spiced with the snaky web of intrigue which meandered everywhere... having finally paused within the sensation that, when recalling the full compass of her life during her very last dance to defy death, there remained a taste of bitter

sadness and loneliness; the awareness that the Queen of Heart’s great splendour could only have been achieved at the expense of her innermost chagrin and romantic tragedies.

The choice of classical texts was combined with the creation of original ones, depending on the moments, and paying homage to Elizabeth’s admirable skills in, and penchant for, foreign languages. For most of the local English scenes distinguished Elizabethan poets were quoted: Sir Walter Raleigh, John Donne, Christopher Marlowe, and the writings of John Dee. There’s a babel of tongues in the ‘gossip’ ensemble numbers, as they feature the various machinating foreign ambassadors within the Queen’s Court. The sequence of the Duke of Anjou and his escort Simier visiting and courting Elizabeth has, of course, various quotations from great French poets: Ronsard, Rabelais, Clément Marot.

As Anjou and Simier might have been more than friends and formal collaborators (as history is of course oblique and ambiguous in certain aspects of the period, which we were happy to speculate on), in the scene where the two intend to seduce the Virgin Queen, verses from the Canticles of Solomon are sung, with their ardent rejoicing in sexual love. And we never forgot to evoke, albeit briefly, the voice of Bette Davis in her first, greatest cinematic impersonation of Elizabeth I, which was a childhood inspiration of Lindsay’s which finally gave its fruits today.

We did though mindfully never intended to establish a parallel between the Elizabethan Era and ours; as we should rather aspire to the best of it and wonder at its grand attributes, as well as to ruminate on its complexities, its contradictions, its mysteries and absurdities. All of which served to conform our musical drama, and to inspire all of this have been our endeavours.

Carlos Miranda https://sites.google.com/site/carlosmirandacordal/

Interview with Lindsay Kemp 11.08.14 There’s such a strong sense of truth in your performance; where does that truth come from?

I live my roles. My voice comes from my inner being and from my soul.

What is dance?

There are so many forms and ways in which to dance. Everyone should dance. Dance is life.

Nietzche says: ”A day not danced is a day wasted”.

The dance in art must communicate. It should lift the spirit of the spectator, enchant, delight entertain and involve the audience. Heath Ledger said: ”Sing and dance 100%, totally with all your being and the audience will want to dance with you, will want to join you”. There is a great deal of technique required. The technique of archer, the acrobat, the hypnotist, the lover and the clown.

You met Kazuo Ohno?

Kazuo Ohno greeted me on my arrival in Japan and we became friends. He encouraged me and gave me his blessing. He’s a great inspiration to me. And now he’s one of my guardian angels together with Isadora Duncan.

What are some of your recollections of Australia?

Australia was one of the greatest experiences in my life and I want to come back! The warmth I received on my arrival was extraordinary. Everyone was so warm and full of joy de vivre.

The performances were an immense success. I met many wonderful people. The climate was culturally rich and there were so many new things to see, new spaces to visit, shows to see, exhibitions and new music to listen to. It was a wonderful and exhilarating time.

The candlelight demonstration [by the Festival of Light in Adelaide in 1976] outside the theatre was extraordinary; it was way over the top, it was fabulously theatrical and inside my first appearance in Flowers was to Mozart’s Laudate Dominum and I could still hear the Christian fanatics wailing tunelessly outside and praying for our souls. It all attracted fabulous publicity so the show was always sold out. If people couldn’t get seats to see Flowers, they were buying tickets to see our morning children’s show Mr Punch, which then I felt we were obliged to spice up a bit.

I remember Melbourne particularly for the workshops that I was giving there. There were so many people out in the street trying to get in, we couldn’t get everyone into the studio. And I was obliged to conduct the class standing on a chair in the middle of the room; there was little space for me to move. I could just rattle my tambourine and screech directions. Those workshops were certainly the most memorable and satisfying moments I had in Australia. I began workshops in Sydney, and Glebe in a church hall kindly lent by the vicar. The hall was packed with people: wild, savage, with women tearing off their tops (the men were already kind of naked). There was so much passion, energy and talent. From those classes I recruited several people to join my company.

I met many artists including Martin Sharp and Sylvia

Jahnsons with whom I collaborated. Among my heroes, John Cage, Merce Cunningham and Anna Sokolov came to see Flowers, and I met again my old friend from England Dianne Cilento and in Adelaide I trod grapes with Shirley Abicair my childhood favourite. At last I met my absolute hero Robert Helpmann and we became good friends.

Love and passion appear in many forms in your work, some of them shocking or monstrous but always beautiful. What gives them that beauty?

I have a great desire to bring truth, beauty and joy to the stage and to my life. At present I am colouring the rooms of my house, hoping that they too will give pleasure.

What are you currently working on and what is the next big show?

We’re on tour more or less with a production of Stravinsky The Soldier’s Tale. I play the role of the devil several times performed marvelously by Robert Helpmann. His performance has been a great influence on me. Soldier’s Tale has a small cast and I’d like to bring to it to Australia and also my new show Dracula, a homage to Murnau’s Nosferatu. We hope that the show will have its premiere in Bucarest early next year.

What gives you your strength?

I have to think about that. Um.. I think it comes from... I’m not terribly sure. Well, it comes from my desire to live fully. Not only do I need the strength to dance, but dance gives me the strength. And of course I’m a taurus and it’s fortunate that I was born under the sign of the bull!

I’m careful not to squander my energy. I eat properly and sleep enough. My strength comes from my desire to shine, to inspire and sometimes to impress the young dancers that I am working with. Everything I do springs from my desire.

The Costumes

Cast

Film Crew

The costumes are extraordinarily detailed with the textures and patterns of the fabrics and the jewelling; why did you choose to have such intricacy in the clothes when it would have been possible to have them much simpler or more stylised which is often done with a large-scale stage show?

This is a Lindsay Kemp show! Since the story is about Elizabeth I, we needed to set it in the right context. This was a period rich in detail and all set around the court. People wore their wealth literally on their sleeves, hence the allusion to fine embroideries and jewel. The extravagance of Elizabeth’s world is counterbalanced by the austerity of her cousin Mary.

A lot of the design decisions were borne of necessity as I had such a limited budget and resources. A lot of the fabrics I used were my own, things left over from higher budget film projects, so in order to unify the look I used a lot of screen printing on top of plain fabrics to give the richness and texture needed to bring them to life.

Queen Elizabeth I of England - Lindsay Kemp Robert Dudley / Lord Leicester - David Haughton French Ambassador / Duke of Anjou - François Testory Spanish Ambasador / Dr John Dee - Kinny Gardner Italian Ambassador / Sir Christopher Hatton - Fran Mangescale Maria Stuart / Lettice Knowles - Lucy Burge Lord Esssex - Amit Lahav Young Priest - Patrick Carbonetti Lady in Waiting - Titziana Magris

Director / producer Nendie Pinto-Duschinsky Film editor - Miikka Leskinen Director of photography Christopher Jones Camera - Harry Dwyer Sound recording Daniel Owen Executive producer Patrik Franzen

The staging of the show is quite austere, so the major piece of visual design is in the clothes. Did you design them so that they effectively create a ‘landscape’ or scenery in which the action takes place? If so, can you tell me a bit about your choices of colour for the different characters to do this?

It’s difficult to remember everything about this show as it was over 10 years ago! I almost certainly would have chosen the colours for each character to suit that character or look good against the other characters in the scenes. The austerity of the sets certainly help augment the look of the costumes and actually elevate their importance in the telling of the story.

In the scenes where Elizabeth is wearing the black dress with the black ostrich feather in her headdress, she almost has a victorian or edwardian era look. Is this my imagination or is there a play of historical styles in the clothes. And if so, why did you design in this way?

I don’t think I intentionally made the costume an Elizabethan/Victorian hybrid but don’t mind that it’s interpreted that way. None of the costumes are historically accurate in the way they would be if it were a serious telling of the story or a film. With Lindsay’s work in particular there is always a vast amount of artistic or poetic licence used in order to achieve an effect.

It’s marvelous to see the richness of the clothes with the dynamic movements of the dancers; are there any special elements in their design to complement and assist the choreography?

Of course all the costumes are designed with the choreography in mind so they have to be both practical and create beautiful shapes. Sometimes choreography might be adapted or changed to work with a costume and sometimes a costume will be designed specifically with certain movement in mind.

Sandy Powell the costume designer is a BAFTA and tripple Academy Award winner and among many other films, has designed costumes for Shakespeare in Love, Orlando, Velvet Goldmine, Hugo, The Aviator, Gangs of New York, The Wolf of Wall Street, Shutter Island, The Crying Game, Hilary and Jackie, The Tempest, Interview with the Vampire, The Last of England, Caravaggio, Edward II (in which she also appeared as the seamstress), The Other Boleyn Girl, The Young Victoria, and Disney’s upcoming Cinderella.

Direction - Lindsay Kemp Music - Carlos Miranda Costumes - Sandy Powell Set and video design - Lorenzo Cutůli Choreographer - Marco Berriel

Shot on location at the Bunkamura Theatre, Tokyo, Japan 2008 Suported by the Sasakawa Foundation, ANA Airlines, and the Tate Corporation

Photographs by Richard Haughton THANKS David Haughton, Richard Haughton, Carlos Miranda, Sandy Powell, Mary Lou Jelbart, Andy Turner, Sophia Hanover, the team at fortyfivedownstairs, Annalisa Giudici, Helen Smith, Bernard Leon, Miikka Leskinen, Susumu Matahira, Patrik Franzen, Leo Lewis. Special thanks to Robert Henderson of ANA Airlines without whom the filming would not have been possible.

Nendie would like to dedicate the screening to John Spradbery, Lighting Designer for the Lindsay Kemp Company. [https://vimeo.com/100590123] MAXIMUM IMAGE AREA