David Wenham as Vincent Van Gogh at Adelaide Bank Festival
of Arts 2006
Adeliade Festival.com
Feb 2006
In a Festival coup, David Wenham will appear as Vincent Van
Gogh in the world premiere of Songs from the Yellow Bedroom, the staged reading
of Vincent's letters to his brother Theo, in conjunction with the performance
of Gustav Mahler's The Song of the Earth.
Conceived by Richard Wherrett,
developed with Brett Sheehy and David Wenham through
a workshop in 2000, and entrusted to Harry M. Miller just weeks before Wherrett's death in 2001, the Festival is thrilled to
announce Wenham's continuing association with the work.
The genesis of Wherrett's script
was the conceptual meeting of two late 19th century creative revolutionaries -
composer Gustav Mahler and painter Vincent Van Gogh - who, although they were
almost exact contemporaries with much in common, never actually met.
Wherrett's vision was to combine
the brilliance and sadness of Mahler and Van Gogh into a part-operatic song
cycle, part-dramatic performance, resulting in a visual and musical journey
through landscapes of renewal and hope.
Songs from the Yellow Bedroom will be directed and adapted
for the premiere season by Adam Cook, Wherrett's
former colleague and friend. This
original and imaginative production will be brought to life by French conductor
Diego Masson and the Australian Youth Orchestra, with London-based mezzo
soprano Bernadette Cullen, leading tenor Keith Lewis, and David Wenham reading
Van Gogh's letters.
Mahler wrote The Song of the Earth in the shadow of his
diagnosis with a fatal heart condition in 1908.
The piece is a meditation on mortality inspired by Mahler's deep
connection with nature. Van Gogh similarly
found solace in nature and rural life.
In arguably his greatest artistic period, just before he shot himself in
1890, Van Gogh wrote letters from the South of France to his brother Theo,
documenting his thoughts and feelings about his work and life, and capturing
the growing disintegration and fragmentation of his sanity.
Australian Youth Orchestra conducted by Diego Masson
SONGS FROM THE YELLOW BEDROOM
With Mezzo Soprano Bernadette Cullen, Tenor Keith Lewis, and
David Wenham as Vincent Van Gogh
Directed by Adam Cook
March 4 & 5;