Masque of the Muses

Reviewed by Paula Citron

Masque of the Muses
Toronto Masque Theatre
Performed by Derek Boyes, actor, Teri Dunn, soprano and Marie-Nathalie Lacoursière, dancer, with Larry Beckwith and Kathleen Kajioka, violin, Margaret Gay, cello, Noam Krieger, harpsichord and piano, and Alison Melville, flute and recorder
Winchester Street Theatre
Nov. 25 to 27, 2010

Artistic director Larry Beckwith of Toronto Masque Theatre interprets a masque to be the fusion of the arts. In the show Masque of the Muses, the music, readings and dance were linked to the nine ancient Greek muses by the theme of inspiration.

The readings, narrated by actor Derek Boyes, came from Shakespeare and ancient sources like Hesiod and Homer. The music covered a wide swath anchored in renaissance and baroque composers with touches of the 20th century like a song by Jacques Ibert.

Soprano Teri Dunn sang Ibert, Handel, Danyel and Clérambault. The Clérambault also featured baroque dancer Marie-Nathalie Lacoursière. But here’s a curiosity. There was no dance performed to music from Praetorius’ Terpsichore.

As always, Beckwith assembled a group of excellent musicians. Caroline Guilbault contributed the projections and Gabriel Cropley the lighting.

The very enjoyable Masque of the Muses was on a more modest scale than some of TMT’s other shows, but, as always, was artistically sound both in research and production values.