Baroque Shepherd – Nico and the Navigators & Franui with “Anaesthesia” at Radialsystem V

"Et in Arcadia ego" - so it is emblazoned on the chest of Patric Schott, who is carried onto the stage frozen into a statue. The Grim Reaper does the honors, because the Latin motto translated - "I, too, exist in Arcadia" - defines the two poles of baroque life: on the one hand, a swelling lust for life, and on the other, the knowledge that death and transience also lurk in every idyll. So the piece is not called "Anaesthesia" for nothing, Nico and the Navigators construct an intoxicating in-between zone for their lustful trip into this era. There is no lack of typical accessories: harem pants, puffed sleeves, feathers and shoes, just as Louis XIV would have liked to wear them, make the rustic dances, courtly rituals and tableaux vivants in the manner of paintings true to style. All this might run the risk of seeming kitschy were it not for Adrian Gillot's part. As narrator, he makes the spectacle permeable for contemporary eyes and ears with his ironic comments. The wonderfully versatile Yui Kawaguchi also stands out as a dancer when she flashes modern movement vocabulary. Finally, Handel's music makes the artistic bubble perfect: the eleven musicians of Franui and the three singers celebrate Handel's cosmos, but also alienate it with instruments such as accordion and saxophone. In the end, they die collectively, with a pinch of powder from the little bag of the Grim Reaper. This is so terribly beautiful that one simply can't blame the piece for its imagery and little mannerisms.

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