The Mother by Arthur Pita, music by Frank Moon and Dave Price
Natalia Osipova (the mother), Jonathan Goddard (death) – Queen Elizabeth Hall
Cast
Arthur Pita — Choreographer, stage director
Frank Moon — Composer
Dave Price — Composer
Yann Seabra — Stage design
David Plater — Lighting designer
Anna Rulevkaya — Sound Designer
Natalia Osipova — The mother
Jonathan Goddard — Death
Program notes
How far is a mother willing to go to save her child from the jaws of death? Hans Christian Andersen’s The Story of a Mother, which explores this haunting question, inspired South-African choreographer Arthur Pita to create his evocative dance theatre production The Mother. Drawing on Frank Moon and Dave Price’s mesmerizing, minimalist music and a powerful, visceral performance by star dancer Natalia Osipova, Pita creates a chilling, spellbinding ballet that blurs the lines between reality and hallucination.
On an innovative, revolving set that alternates between a bedroom, a bathroom, and a living room with blackened walls, a mother (Natalia Osipova) endures a series of ominous and horror-tinged encounters with a doctor, a matryoshka doll, a widow, a smuggler, an old woman, and a soldier — all played by Jonathan Goddard, who accompanies the protagonist's descent into hell. Each scene brings increasingly nightmarish situations, altogether forming a masterful gothic and macabre spectacle. Not for the faint-hearted!