Stay, Time, Awhile Thy Flying...

Time flies....but stay awhile, my friends, and you too Time. Consider a playful evocation with a ‘Divine Mother’ manifesting Time. Her hopeless consorts are Elizabethan archetypes, The Fool and The Poet. Even her regal bearing is an impersonation, a walking shadow of eternity, whose tune we all dance to.

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Created in 2022 for The Royal Ballet's 'Draftworks' evening the piece is set to three ancient compositions each with a focus on one of the three corresponding characters. 

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1st Song : 'Tarleton's Resurrection' - John Dowland.

 Dowland was an eminent composer and lutenist of the English Renaissance best known for his melancholy songs and lute repertoire. The Tarleton of the title refers to Richard Tarleton the most famous clown of his age (a generation before Dowland) and also an accomplished actor and writer. In this section we are introduced to 'The Fool' a quick-witted and capricious character that deftly wears many masks and deceives our expectations of a performer.

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2nd Song 'O Eterne Deus' - Hildegard von Bingen

An omnipresent force suddenly unveils herself this 'Divine Mother' weaves time from her spiraling movements and 'The Fool' like a court jester worships her, simultaneously enhancing her powers and subverting them. Hildegard von Bingen was a 12th Century polymath and abbess who composed, painted and wrote extensively. Her music is sparse but mysterious and enchanting in its long lines of melody sung in Latin.

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3rd Song - 'Time Stands Still' - John Dowland 

A man stumbles upon this unusual pair of fool and divine woman. Blind to the woman's true nature he is captivated by her and enthralled in her every movement, hardly noticing the fools presence. He assumes the role of 'The Poet' pouring forth his heart with growing desperation, in this exalted state even time hold its breath as the woman toys with him before sending him on his way.