Premiered during the 2024 Midsumma Festival, Labyrinth is even more powerful as Forest Collective’s one-year-old child. Whilst remaining in the Abbotsford Convent precinct, the substantially more spacious combined venues of the Magdalen Laundry and Industrial School have provided an opportunity to explore further creative possibilities.
Perhaps the larger spaces lack the almost claustrophobic atmosphere of the earlier cramped labyrinthine corridors of The Store, but on a hot summer night this longer version was much better suited to the new venues. A larger audience was also able to view the action more readily and make use of some strategically-placed unobtrusive seating as the drama unfolded. Acoustically speaking, greater resonance heightened the tension and gave even greater impact to the operatic declamations, and the later 9pm start allowed Gabe Bethune’s atmospheric lighting design to be more effective in creating an eerie shadowy world of monumental cavernous spaces.
As we “brave Athenians” gathered in the courtyard, an additional short Prelude to Daniel Szesiong Todd’s libretto invited us to follow Theseus – fittingly, Todd himself. It was the beginning of a series of additions – some major – that served to clarify and bring a deeper level of understanding to what is quite a complex story. Making our way into a tighter space for the Prologue, Theseus instructed us to stay close to him as we entered this “place of terror”: the labyrinth. We caught glimpses of what was to come as he and Kim Tan’s flute – a kind of honey-toned Pied Piper – led us into the first room for Scene 1. As Theseus proclaimed, “Here’s blood – and here! I smell it … it’s in the stones”, for those familiar with the history of the Magdalen Laundry, it was impossible to avoid thinking of the steamy sweat and toil that must still permeate those walls. We heard ominous electronic music – was that a scream? – and echoes of the piano that represented the Minotaur at the centre of the labyrinth. Red lighting dominated along with blue that turned red to black in later scenes. A mellow viola added to the ambiguous texture, but, ultimately, it was a chilling soundscape despite Todd’s reassuringly strong tenor voice and authoritative confidence.
Ariadne (Teresa Ingrilli) entered to mock Theseus, the Minotaur roared and we were led further into the labyrinth where two dancers (Ashley Dougan and Charlie MacArthur) wove their sinous bodies among festoons of red threads. Extended arias from Theseus and Ariadne gave us their horror-filled backstories and an unexpected sympathy for the Minotaur, Ariadne’s half brother, Asterion (little star). The first major addition to the score is their duet as some of the complexities of the slaying are exposed and the concept of shame in the killing is explored. The librettist’s program note points to contemporary relevance: “This ancient myth is filled with children dealing with the legacy of their parents’ prejudice and shame which was literally buried underground. … Even today we sometimes bury our feelings of shame deep within our own labyrinths, perhaps without even realizing that their origins lie in other people’s prejudice”. Think too of the young women slaving in the laundry under their burdens of shame. This commentary and having the complete libretto published in the program help audience members to engage more fully with the work. The singers may have had excellent diction but sung poetic text with little repetition is not always easy to follow.
MacArthur’s viola provided a tonal grounding for much of this scene, a thread underlying the motivic cells of the vocal music along with Tan’s flute. This duet and the other major addition in the final scene meant that we heard more outstanding singing from Todd and Ingrilli. In the multiple roles of Composer, Music Director and Sound Designer, Evan J Lawson was able to tailor a score that is admirably suited the vocal and dramatic talents of his singers, including Girl Whatever as Daedalus.
Theseus’s resolve led us by a slender, blood red physical thread into the next space, and an encounter with Daedalus, maker of the labyrinth and condemned to wander through its corridors for eternity. In this larger space, some of the savagery of the role of Daedalus was less confronting, but Girl Whatever embraced the madness, singing and pacing with impressive vocal skill and a degree of dynamic energy that was not possible in the more confined space.
In the confrontation with the Minotaur, a figure shrouded in swathes of black fabric that is almost an extension of the black grand piano, we heard the half-man-half-bull creature’s anguished state of mind. Danäe Killian’s playing of the Concerto element of Lawson’s Opera/Ballet/Concerto was compelling in its jagged, roiling intensity. The turning of the pages of the score weakened the effect to some degree, but the complexity of the music probably made this setup unavoidable.
The final killing suggested by Theseus’s outstretched sword as the Minotaur played agonized final passages was a more stylish version of the earlier production, doubtless thanks to Cathy Hunt’s direction. The final images were also striking as dancers and singers crept forward, bodies intertwining, to make their escape from the labyrinth.
The singing in the final extended duet was superb, Ingrilli’s voice thrillingly satin smooth on top notes, and Todd’s vocal production always well-projected, focused and free.
Numerous creative and performance elements combine to make this fabulous revised production of Labyrinth a highlight of the 2025 Midsumma Festival. Highly recommended.
Photo credit: Pia Johnson
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Heather Leviston reviewed “Labyrinth”, presented by Forest Collective at Abbotsford Convent on February 2, 2025.
