It's all happening at Ubu

When you were young, did you ever wonder whether your toys came to life at night, while you were fast asleep? And did you wonder what they did? Where they went? How they spoke? And, most importantly, did your imagination run riot trying to think of the crazy adventures they had?

If the answer's yes, then there's hope for you yet!

And have you ever happily imagined all sorts of terrible trials and misfortunes befalling someone who - in plain words - you hate?

You have? How wonderful! Now you're in the right frame of mind to read on...

Alfred Jarry's 'Ubu Rex' is credited with having changed the face of French theatre overnight!

The plot revolves around Ubu, sometime despot and former King of Spain. Deposed by the Poles and now serving as a lowly captain in the army, Ubu seems content with his lot in life but his scheming wife has other plans. It doesn't take very long for her to convince him to take back the throne, which he proceeds to do with gusto, ably aided and abetted by his wife and the various factions of the army that they convert to their cause.

But as is wont to happen in such cases, the new King suddenly triples the taxes and orders all the noblemen, judges and financiers in the land to be beheaded. His queen and the captain of the army are horrified and secretly plot to overthrow him.

In the meantime, the young Polish heir to the throne is also bent on Ubu's downfall...

This irreverent spoof is full of chaos and anarchy! Above all, it is the humour and the endearing qualities of the heroes and the villains, which bring this satirical farce to life with matchless vibrancy.

'Ubu Rex' is produced by Mind Adventures, which has gained a reputation for bold and stimulating theatre with productions such as 'Virgo Intacta' (Seneka Abeyratne - 1999) at the Gallery 706, 'Slag' (David Hare - 1999) at the Legends nightclub, and 'Death and The Maiden' (Ariel Dorfman - 2000) at the Lionel Wendt Theatre.

As a company, Mind Adventures focuses mainly on experimental theatre and different forms and ideas of expression. Hence it is not altogether surprising that the director, Tracy Holsinger, has been heard to describe 'Ubu Rex' as 'Macbeth meets The Simpsons with a bit of South Park thrown in as well!'

Oh! And one other thing ... when was the last time you saw puppets trying to kill each other with bathroom brushes? Interested? Then read next week's The Sunday Times.

Soulful funky jazz

The Dave O' Higgins Jazz Quintet from the UK will soon be seen in action in Colombo, Kandy and Galle.

Dave O' Higgins' distinctive, funky sound and soulful melodic grooves on tenor and soprano sax will be supported by an internationally renowned rhythm section with bassist Sam Burgess, drummer Winston Clifford, pianist Jim Watson and slinky guitarist Mike Outram.

With the British Jazz Awards "Best Tenor Sax" in 1995 and 1997 Dave O' Higgins has received rave reviews internationally.

"Saxophonist Dave O' Higgins has long been acknowledged as one of the turks on the live jazz scene, a stylish and passionate player," VOX said while The Observer wrote, "He is rightly acknowledged as one of Britain's finest contemporary jazz musicians." Jazz Magazine International called him, "The most exciting of our young tenor Soprano modernists."

Dave O' Higgins has played with The National Youth Jazz Orchestra for three years prior to playing, touring and recording with Mezzoforte, Cleo Laine and John Dankworth, Jason Rebello, the Clark Tracey Sextet, Itchy Fingers, Jim Mullen, Matt Bianco, Martin Taylor, Ray Charles, Incognito, Frank Sinatra, Peggy Lee etc.

Guitarist Mike Outram has played with Stan Sulzmann, Burnt Orange, John Ellis, Herbie Mann, Count Basie,the Siamus Cater Band and Anna Stubbs. He currently teaches at the Trinity College of Music.

Winston Clifford - drummer-has played with Freddie Hubbard, Dave Valentin, Larry Creole, Monty Alexander, Carmen Lundy, Joe Lovano, Archie Shepp, Courtney Pine, Julian Joseph, Jason Rebello, Ronnie Laws, Art Farmer, Joey Calderazzo, Behki Mseleku, John Abbercrombe and Stanley Turrentine.

Sam Burgess - Bassist, studied at Guildhall School of Music and has played with Claire Martin, Pete King, Guy Barker, Gary Husband, Jim Mullen and Tim Whitehead. He's done commercial recordings with the Pet Shop Boys and West Life plus various TV and film soundtracks.

Jim Watson - Keyboard- is a member of the Dave O' Higgins Quartet and Gerard Presencers 'Platypus' and has performed with James Moody, Javon Jackson, Bobby Watson, Jean Toussaint, Guy Barker, Peter King and Jim Mullen. He was nominated for a BT Jazz award in 1998 (Rising Star) and won Best Soloist prize in the European Jazz contest (Jazz Hoeilaat) held in Belgium in 1996.

Their first concert is scheduled for Monday March 26, at the British Council, Colombo. The quintet will also perform in Kandy on March 29 at the Mahaweli Reach Hotel, and in Galle on March 31 at the Lighthouse Hotel.

New sounds light up music scene

The Krasna Chamber Ensemble (KCE), under the direction of the gifted violinist Ananda Dabare, played to an appreciative audience at a well attended concert at the Lionel Wendt Theatre on February 21.

This was only its second public performance since its formation comparatively recently.

The brainchild of Ananda Dabare, the KCE is very much a new light in the local musical firmament. Chamber music and ensembles which specialized in its performance have been an important part of the rich musical tradition of western classical music, since the mid 17th century.

The evening's programme consisted of works by J.S. Bach, Mozart, Borodin and Tchaikovsky - an interesting mixture of classical music with a highly Slavonic flavoured component.

Ananda Dabare's sensitive and expressive playing was heard to great advantage in the Bach Concerto for Violin and Strings in E major, BMV 1042. The energetic first movement heard the ensemble producing a warm soft sound in true chamber music tradition. This was followed by the sonorous and lyrical second movement which was elevated by Dabare's expressive playing. The subtle light phrasing which was a feature of the third movement, saw the ensemble playing with an easy freedom bringing this work to a satisfying conclusion.

Mozart's Divertimento in D major, which is a typical composition for a chamber ensemble was played at a lively tempo with the strings giving it a light touch. However, the andante movement was perhaps taken a trifle too slow, resulting in the inexperience and youthfulness of many of the players being shown up by their inconsistent bowing. The second half of the programme had a marked Russian and Slavonic flavour and the ensemble succeeded in capturing this mood and lilt to a great extent. The atmosphere of introspection, mystery and languidity, which pervades the Borodin Nocturne, was well captured by them.

The Serenade for Strings in C major, Opus 48 by Tchaikovsky, the final item in the programme was musically and interpretatively the most demanding. A joyous and electric composition full of Slavonic flavour, fervour, spirit and popular with many music lovers on account of its lyrical and melodious second movement - Tempo de Valse- saw the ensemble at its best, especially in the Finale. There was much intensity and feeling in their rendering of this composition, although the rasping quality of the strings in the more strident and quicker passages, the result of uneven and heavy bowing, tended to be jarring at times. However it was from many points of view an enjoyable performance.

Nihal Wiratunga

Love, desire and loss

By Prof. S.B. Dissanayake

An Exhibition of "Druvinka's art" will be on from March 21-30 at the Barefoot Gallery, Colombo 3.

Druvinka's art is a self- generated self-pro pelled aesthetic. The making of small and large-scale works may have taken months for others, but for her it's all done in a frenzy of concentrated activity in a matter of a few weeks.

It is a total gallery of experience for viewers. They do not meditate on these pictures individually. They go home to think about them. First of all their technical accomplishments, then the subject matter. In the course of those few brief minutes most viewers will spend with these pictures, they will receive the full force of all those happy finds, those comparisons, those flashes which may have accumulated through days if not months of anguished seeking of what next to do, of waiting, of procrastinating, of patience and impatience.

Druvinka has given her recent work a new spin - a shifting play of incompatible perspectives seen and understood through layer upon layer of meaning, in a way which was scarcely possible before she adopted her new technical devices like the use of Nepalese bamboo paper on canvas and printed matter sometimes pasted on.

This art is part of a highly concentrated discourse on the modern torn between rejection and dependence.

Druvinka uses her new found devices artfully to conjure the desired baroque effect which she uses to great advantage in this series. The intricate images she tries to create now, unlike in her previous works which dealt with the world of refugees, and then in the next series, attributing it all to Karmic Forces, are silently dramatizing her own soul-searchings of love, desire and loss.

The figures are among shadows united by feelings of isolation. They exude a sense of being brought on to a stage, to a suspended reality in a state of weightlessness fumbling for something archetypal.

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