The Beautiful Cosmos of Ivor Cutler

Five parts of The Beautiful Cosmos, divided for assessment.


The Text: Vanishing Point use the life and music of 'surrealist folk' poet Ivor Cutler as the basis of the production. His songs provide a structure to episodes from his life, starting with his childhood in Ibrox through his relationship with Phyllis King, his success in London (he was a regular on all the BBC radio stations) to his senility in a home. Although some of Cutler's songs are performed in the style of the original (generally, a solo dour voice accompanied by the harmonium), others are orchestrated. Actor and co-creator Sandy Grierson's meetings with King are dramatised, both connecting the performance to Cutler's surviving associates and exposing the process of making.

The Direction: Matthew Lenton's position as artistic director suggests that he is responsible for the adaptation of the source texts - but the programme notes that it was 'created by James Fortune (the music director), Sandy Grierson and Matthew Lenton with the Company.' There is a broad chronological arrangement of the source texts, making Beautiful Cosmos a straight-forward journey of the man as artist. Yet by interrupting this simple narrative with song and dance routines, intimate and charming conversations between Grierson and Phyllis King (played with a warm, independent sensuality by Elicia Daly), the company juxtapose the art against the life, hinting at complex emotional depths behind the apparently humorous words.

The biggest interpretation comes from the decision to orchestrate Cutler's songs with a full band. Cutler himself was not a rock'n'roller, despite being in a film with The Beatles and championed by John Peel. Indeed, Grierson quotes one of Cutler's most famous complaints 'amplification is the curse of civilisation' when his microphone cut out. But in giving some of Cutler's numbers more rhythm and more melody, Vanishing Point explore some of the subtexts in his lyrics (his Jewishness in a klezmer-inflected jamboree, his dreamy playfulness in a groovy little number about a fly), while abandoning his art's frailty and minimal dourness.

When they reach Cutler's dotage, this is supported by a melancholic, disjointed sequence - echoing Cutler's decline and shattering the chronological span. It's a beautiful moment, capturing the alienation and confusing of a man on the threshold of death.

The Technology: A big live band, an interlude with foley action, Kai Fischer's predictably impressive set, a detailed lighting score (which Grierson's Cutler draws attention to by asking for the speakers to be turned down and the lighting made 'more miserable'): Vanishing Point slap the scenography out in front of the audience in that good old Brechtian style. The scenography is used to emphasise the theatricality of the show, to break any suggestion that this is a realist production.

This goes against the grain of Cutler's own aesthetic, but works to highlight his personal vulnerability -and the fragility of his art. There is richness to the ideas beneath Cutler's tranquil poems and songs, and the exposed technology conjures up a lively emotional life not always revealed in the sardonic recitations he committed to vinyl.

The Performances: The band do a fine job, Grierson convinces both as himself and Cutler, Elicia Daley is charming and Ed Gaughan works very hard in multiple roles. Good ensemble work et c... but Vanishing Point are never a worry on this score.

Ethics: Interesting category for review, this one. Isn't it?