Cheeseboards, red wine and Edith Piaf. Even the bar staff gallantly attempt to speak French to you. The Battersea Arts Centre’s beautifully opulent Grand Hall has been transformed into a 1930s Parisian music hall for Little Bulb’s lovingly created version of the Orpheus myth. The company was inspired by the incredible guitar music of Django Reinhardt, and has dreamt up a play within a play wherein an ailing music hall manages to secure the star himself to perform as Orpheus in their musical telling of this dark love story.
Eugenie Pastor leads proceedings as the slightly geeky MC Yvette Pépin, who is obviously enamoured by her co-star Reinhardt. And so, along with her chorus of The Triplettes (three multi-talented musicians and singers), a pianist in tails, and ‘the strong hands of their actor stage hands’ the company embarks upon its dramatisation of the myth.
Hilarity quickly ensues. The ‘show’ is a mix of am-dram, faux-ballet leaps across the stage and melodramatic gesticulation performed to song and music. The much-lauded film The Artist has most certainly been an inspiration – the egotistical star, the perfectly nuanced hammy performances, constantly reminding us of the artifice of what we’re watching. There are anti War Horsepuppets that are fantastically funny, best of which is a giant snake on long sticks manipulated be The Triplettes.
It’s all wonderfully entertaining, but where the piece struggles is at the emotional crux of the tale. There needs to be a shift from tongue-in-cheek comedy to a moment when the story emotionally connects with the audience. It happens in The Artist when the sound breaks down for our hero, and we suddenly find ourselves rooting for him. The difficulty Little Bulb has on its hands is that they’ve created a wholly unlikeable character in Django Reinhardt, and so it is difficult to fall for his story of loss. Whilst his guitar playing is nothing less than fabulous, there is rather too much of it and we are never allowed past his self-important exterior. Pastor’s Pépin, on the other hand is wonderfully lovable. During an extended musical interlude of an interval, she throws herself wholeheartedly into a rendition of Edith Piaf’s Mon Dieu. It is heartbreaking. Elsewhere, the falsetto-voiced Tom Penn sings an enchanting plea to Hades, god of the underworld, to free Eurydice. This piece, an original composition by the company, is a revelation and the highlight of the night.
Indeed, it is the music that impresses the most. Alongside their original pieces, there are renditions of Bach, Prévert, Brahms and, bien sûr, Reinhardt himself. It is all a feast for the ears, made even more impressive when The Triplettes sing to us, their voices in perfect harmony. Little Bulb have, no doubt about it, a wonderful career ahead of them. Get down to Battersea to be put under their enchanting spell. And eat some cheese.