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A Tale of Hoffman
.
Written and Performed by John Bett.
Music Director - Ron Shaw.
Designer - Graham Baird
Lighting Designer - Richard Moffat and Emma Jones
Sound Designer - Emma Jones.
Venue - Dundee Rep
Date - 15 September 2003
Run Time - 2 hours including 15 mins interval .
Reviewer - Neil Ingram.
Seductive acting and brilliant musicianship.
Ernst Hoffman was apparently a fortunate man - born into a prosperous
family in Prussia, he trained for the Law at Konigsberg University. He
followed his father and grandfather into the legal world. But he wanted
to compose and write, and create fantastic worlds. His whole life became
a struggle to find his creative self. John Bett's A Tale of Hoffman
shows us both the man and his creations, as he looks back on a life too
full of things done, but perhaps not of things achieved.
Bett portrays Hoffman as a man only too aware of his own shortcomings-
a fondness for drink, pretty women and grand gestures - but doubting his
real worth. We hear his music, which is melodious but he realises that
it doesn't match that of Mozart or Beethoven. He knows they are geniuses.
Hoffman tells the story of his life as it moves to a close - he died of
increasing paralysis, and while telling it he moves fairly freely, though
a stiffness reminds us this is a man coming to his finale.
Before such a concept existed, his writing is almost surreal. To us Hoffman
reads his story "The Sandman", about the evil presence of Dr
Coppelius who haunts its tragic hero, and who creates a mechanical doll
which steals the young man's heart. This of course is the story of Coppelia,
and another of Hoffman's works - "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King"
- is the basis of The Nutcracker, so two of the most popular ballets of
all time come from his writings. Despite his doubts, his other stories
have influenced generations of writers across Europe and America.
Simply and very effectively staged on the set for Twelfth Night, with
strategic wine decanters, glasses, candles, rich maroon cloths and the
chaos of manuscripts and unpaid bills, this production is a skilful combination
of John Bett's seductive acting and Ron Shaw's brilliant musicianship.
It's a conventional approach to biography, but very well done. You'll
come away thinking more clearly about the struggles of a creative life.
© Neil Ingram 15 September 2003. - Published on EdinburghGuide.com
John Bett is also in Dundee Rep's Twelfth
Night at Dundee Rep. It's hoped A Tale of Hoffman will be seen again
on the set of Dundee Rep's Twelfth Night when it is toured in 2004.
Theatre Editor, Thelma
Good's e-mail is thelma@edinburghguide.com
Although every effort has been taken to ensure the accuracy of the
information presented in these pages, no responsibility can be accepted
for any errors or omissions.
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