Monodrama I

Monodrama I is my first production pre-dating the funded artistic research project entitled “En-Gendering Monodrama: Artistic Research and Experimental Production”, which was awarded a two-year Irish Research Council postdoctoral fellowship at Maynooth University between 2015 and 2017. The project, based on twentieth-century musical monodrama, is an original undertaking that applies an interdisciplinary approach to the performance practices of four modern operatic works set for only one performer. Monodrama I is inspired to Recital I (for Cathy) (1972 version) — by Luciano Berio  — which constitutes an open and heterogeneous monologue constructed on musical quotations extrapolated from diverse vocal repertoires that could vary according to the performer’s skills, the target and occasion in which the performance takes place. While our original arrangement for voice and piano highlights the “adaptable” nature of the work and new ways to conceive it, our performance adheres to our own reinterpretation and creative approach to the piece, thus emphasising the role of the performer and her creative choices brought to the piece. Musical excerpts from the performer’s repertoire alternate seamlessly with a prose monologue which unfolds like a stream of consciousness.