As we walk through a picket gate in an overgrown hidden corner of Christchurch suburbia, it’s as if we are suddenly transported to another, unfamiliar world.

We are immediately confronted by elements of Mauricio Kagel’s Repertoire as Free Theatre’s “non-dancers” introduce us to their universe. Over on the lawn, John Cage’s strange little piano piece ‘In a Landscape’ emanates from a weather-beaten piano as the ticket collector issues name tags containing the first name of one or another of tonight’s two main composers. Throughout the evening most of the performances are either works by Cage and Kagel or works and ideas inspired by them. [More]
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It’s half past eight, golden hour, on the evening of one of the hottest days of summer, and we’re being led along paths beaten through scruffy fields by masked performers, pinching tart blackberries and scrumping apples from overladen trees, listening to some of the best musicians in Christchurch rattle kitchen implements, make bird calls, and do their best not to play their instruments in the way they were designed.

It’s a stunning way to spend an evening and an unusual but perfectly apt setting for Ars Acustica, a playful, thoughtful multi-disciplinary celebration of the theatrical music of composers John Cage and Mauricio Kagel.

The performance, directed by Peter Falkenberg, features outdoor installations, well-considered light and costumes, and puppets and masks, combining to form a hybrid, organic celebration of movement, music and the natural environment.

For two hours performers from Free Theatre’s core company work alongside students from the University of Canterbury’s School of Music and members of the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra, who are conducted at times by the NZ Symphony Orchestra’s Hamish McKeitch. The two dozen or so works range from the conventional to the avant-garde, and throughout the performances are presented with intelligence and wit.

The presentation is beautifully musically directed by composer, virtuoso violinist and UC’s Head of Performance Mark Menzies, whose works ‘Koromiko’and ‘Kea’serve as high points in an evening full of treasures.

The performance is held at sites around Free Theatre’s new home, the pastoral setting of Waldheim: a hidden space on the fringe of the inner city that used to house an alternative primary school and, before that, a horticultural training centre. The orchards, gardens and ramshackle, overgrown greenhouses that we are drawn through act as environment and sanctuary; this is the first Free Theatre show I’ve been to that could be described, at first, as ‘gentle’.

The evening’s performances start outdoors and we head into repurposed buildings as the light begins to fade, finishing up in a greenhouse that has been reconfigured as a makeshift concert hall, with room for a small orchestra and the performance of an unconventional ballet.

This bucolic space in turn softens and recontextualises many of the musical works, the most unconventional and angular of which often ask audience and performers to confront what it is we mean by music, or noise, or sound, or even performance itself. This is particularly the case in the evening’s final segment, which includes a performance of John Cage’s (most infamous?) work, ‘4:33’, a three-movement piece in which the performers are instructed not to play their instruments.

Within a traditional performance space we might reflect upon the act of listening and the magnitude of noise within the dark and intentional ‘silence’. In this space, environmental sounds, which include wind, far-off sirens and the distant revving of cars and motorcycles, are augmented by the comforting smell of straw and the damp of the vegetation surrounding and creeping in to the ‘concert hall’. It’s a special experience.

The evening is rich and densely packed, with enough to appeal to a variety of tastes – and the knowledge that if you don’t like this, something else is on its way. This is somewhat to its detriment. The show runs well over its advertised time, and there is a growing sense of restlessness in the performance’s final half hour. This has little to do with the performers themselves but rather a sense of overstimulation and a desire for a good edit. This is really noticeable as we head into the performance’s final section, during which we are seated along the walls of a greenhouse, for we become a more traditional stationary audience that is less able to move around, or chat, or engage on our own terms.

There might be too much of a good thing, but it’s clearly an artistic victory for Free Theatre, who have been forced to get creative about their ongoing sustainability given the loss last year of their former home. Do be warned about the site’s abundance of biting insects, though, and it’s worth wearing sturdy shoes. You may also want to bring a good-sized purse if you plan on pinching some apples.

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