Theatre: Mémoires d’un Amnésique
- Sat 27 Jul 2019
- 7:30 pm
- £10.00
Mémoires d’un Amnésique
Mémoires d’un Amnésique: A Reflection of the Life and Work of Erik Satie is, in equal parts, a piano recital, a one-man play and a surrealist film, amalgamated into a unique theatrical experience.
Alex Metcalfe performs Satie’s most important works, in character as the composer from the set of his Arceuil apartment. Sarah Miles’s script, edited from Satie’s own words, is narrated against the backdrop of Keith Lovegrove’s cinematic accompaniment.
Satie, who died in a Paris hospital on July 1st, 1925, was perhaps the most intriguing and eccentric of all the great composers. The cause of death was cirrhosis of the liver, brought on by a lifetime of absinthe overindulgence as a member of Montmartre’s hedonistic Chat Noir set. In 27 years, no-one but he had set foot inside his Arcueil residence.
His fellow composer and friend, Darius Milhaud, visited to help clear out the deceased’s belongings. From Milhaud’s account, there were two pianos in the apartment, one on top of the other, the higher of which was used to store mail. The sheets on the bed had obviously not been changed in years, and strung above it was a hammock full of wine bottles.
Narrated in French with English subtitles.