Amadeus Ant

>> Shades of the ’80s in Segal’s Mozart production

FLOCK OF FOPS: Amadeus

by AMY BARRATT

If you’ve seen Sofia Coppola’s 2006 film Marie Antoinette, there’s something familiar about Alexandre Marine’s take on Amadeus, now playing at the Segal theatre, and we’re not just talking about the pastel-coloured pastries.

Both take place in virtually the same time period (1770s or ’80s), in and around ridiculously opulent royal courts, one in France, the other Vienna. Indeed the two are linked: the Austrian Emperor, Joseph, is the brother of Austrian-born Marie Antoinette.

Both directors have chosen to incorporate style elements from a much more recent time, the 1980s. It’s easy to understand why: the 1980s themselves had a little pash for the foppishness of the late 18th century (see: Adam Ant). Also, at least in Coppola’s case, she was trying to avoid the stuffiness of some historical drama and make a distant period more accessible to a modern audience.

I presume Marine is trying something similar by giving us a Mozart (Damien Atkins) dressed in parachute pants with a hairdo straight out of a Cutting Crew video. Most of the other men in the Viennese court sport elaborate powdered wigs more suited to the period, while their costumes combine 18th century as well as modern elements. Salieri (Jean Marchand), the anti-hero of the piece, dons a wig along with a costume that, except for the tails, resembles an ordinary grey business suit. Perhaps we’re meant to see this court composer for Joseph II as a scheming employee of Habsburg, Inc.

Then there’s Mozart’s wife Constanze (Brigitte Pogonat), who appears at Salieri’s home dressed in a blue-and-white tablecloth-print dress, the bodice of which looks to be from 1960, while the skirt is an exaggerated version of 18th-century crinolines (they stick straight out to both sides making it impossible to pass through a door), but it’s only knee-length. Designer James Lavoie has had a wonderful time blending exaggerated styles from several periods; unfortunately, they upstage the performances of many of the production’s 16 actors.

Yannik Larivée’s set, hidden at first behind a red curtain, then dramatically revealed by Salieri as he takes us back in time, is perhaps the most beautiful I have seen at the Segal, a theatre that always has impressive sets. We often find ourselves, in our theatre seats, facing actors occupying several rows of theatre seats incorporated into the set.

It is nice to see Peter Shaffer’s play, best known in its 1984 film adaptation, brought back into the realm of theatre, with set and even costume changes done in full view by the players. It is, after all, a memory play, brought to life with a tap of the conductor Salieri’s baton.

Mozart’s music is heard intermittently in recordings, which, although played at low-volume, convey an intensity of emotion that is somehow missing from the actors’ performances.

I’m curious about one plot point: if Salieri ripped up the Kyrie from Mozart’s “Requiem” shortly before Mozart died, why do we still have the Kyrie?

Amadeus to May 20, at the Leanor and
Alvin Segal Theatre, Saidye Bronfman
Centre (5170 Côte- Ste-Catherine),
(514) 739-7944