Brighton Festival Part 2: The Oyster Princess
Words by Elizabeth Simner
‘Both films deal with international relations’ offers Peter Vermeesch as way of explaining his media compounds of film and live music. Last night saw the UK premier of Belgian band Flat Earth Society, providing a live score to the 1919 silent film ‘The Oyster Princess’ at Brighton Dome’s Concert Hall.
The evening begins as Les Hommes Du Train Vs Overlap remix a live soundtrack to silent classic Piccadilly Nite, a film about roaring twenties London. The story tells of a gentleman falling in lust with a performer, as the newspaper headline on the film screams out ‘The Chinese Dancing Wonder.’ Imagine a Moulin Rouge storyline transferred to 18th century London and merged with the concerns of the Orient.
The narrative of the film’s story is not communicated in a chronological, ordered way. Rather Les Hommes Du Train have chopped it up into sections and overlayered the film with digital art- images of white flowers and stars jump out from the celluloid. The piece seems more about the experience of colour and sound working organically than the understanding of a sensible plotline. The old film is imbued with new energy, as we see purple screen shots of dancing flapper girls interrupted by flashes of heavy sepia filters- through which we see images of our Dancing Chinese Wonder. They have chosen specific shots and repeated them, there is one of the performer taking off her gloves seductively, another of our gentleman protagonist lasciviously smiling in undisguised greed, and they are flashed at us over and over, to a heavy drum beat.
The points being made here, about gender, class and creed, are made with colour and music, rather than language- which allows us to sit back and enjoy the experience of a live big band. Even the old quotes (-Now you have the nerve to kiss me!)- are flashed wide and high across the hall, with great impact on the huge screen.
The focus shifts from screen to stage as the musicians walk on one by one- what starts off as two electronic musicians at two laptops fills over time to become a group of seven, ten, and finally seventeen musicians, varying from alto sax to clarinet and keyboard.
Ernst Lubitcsh’s film Oyster Princess is the main part of the performance, a satirical comedy in four acts, which tells the story of the young heir to the Oyster fortune as she searches for a husband, all in the course of a single day. The first scene introduces us to the princess as she smashes up her room in alarm of her pending lonesome future, her short curly hair and chubby arms flailing wildly, the staccato brass section undercuts the mania and hilarity of the scene: ‘I need a husband!’ she squeals.
The Oyster tycoon Quaker decides to take matters into his own hands and goes to the Marriage Broker, a withered little man who has an office plastered with faces of suitable young gentlemen. He climbs a ladder and begins scanning to find a suitable heir, with, in the words of the king ‘a lineage worthy of my oysters.’ But, as the marriage broker informs him: ‘At that price, they’ve all got some small defect.’
With photography by Theodore Sparkell and great comic performances from the actors, the humour of the film ages surprisingly well, marrying slapstick comedy with a sharp satirical bite. The tight choreography works well; when the Oyster King is introduced, he had his hair brushed for him automatically by one of four black servants, and when he falls asleep his entire body is lifted at once without him waking. When the Princess is getting ready to meet her potential husband, her twenty strong team of maids rigorously scrub and pummel her into oblivion in preparation, as her husband to be loses patience waiting in the cavernous hall downstairs.
The funniest moments are emphasised by the band, the trumpet and drums in particular to enhance the Princess’ mood swings, and hilarious proprietary view of life. She finds a husband in the weak and unsuitable (and fake) Prince Nucki, and proclaims herself: ‘so happy I could smash the whole place!’
The storyline is a case of Wildean mistaken identity, and with a twist over Prince Nucki’s authenticity, the plot draws on traditional comic themes of marriage and power, while simultaneously marking them with a modern twist- a commentary on the false meritocracy of the American bourgeoisie. The Oyster Princess begins to get impatient before she stumbles across her fake Prince, saying exasperatedly: ‘One and a half hours have passed and I still haven’t got a husband.’
More jolly japes ensue in the wedding ceremony section; as the couple exchange vows the princess states: ‘We do not need to ask him- he has no say in the matter’, and later, at the dinner a disappointed Oyster King announces: ‘Forgive me for introducing my son in law.’ The music builds up faster with brilliant clarinet from Tom Wouters, as ‘A foxtrot epidemic breaks out’ the Princess is informed by her father ‘Not so wild, think of your lineage’- ‘Rubbish!’ she shrieks manically, and carries on.
The fated marriage is saved as the real Prince Nucki turns up, stumbling drunkenly into the scene titled ‘Billionaire’s Daughter’s Society For Combating Alcoholism Holds A Wedding Breakfast.’ The prince is eagerly pounced upon by the young princess, who, after announcing to the other girls: ‘we’ll box for him’, wins the fight and declares proudly: ‘I shall treat him privately.’
Described by Alfred Hitchcock as ‘a man of pure cinema’, Ernst Lubitsch’s work was given even more creative gravitas by the live score provided by Flat Earth Society, as they re-worked the film into a new and fresh comedy. This collaboration of composers, film makers and musicians resulted in an original format; creating an impact, calling on all the senses.
Posted Fri, May 08, 2009