The Indifferent Affair

The Indifferent Affair (1981)

performance piece for solo percussionist, typewriter, table, lamp and tape-delay

Duration: c. 10 minutes

Commissioned by Simon Limbrick with funds provided by the Welsh Arts Council

The Indifferent Affair uses Jean Cocteau’s cabaret Le Bel Indifferent of 1942 as a basis, turning the original concept inside out. The original play of 1930, La Voix Humaine, is in the form of a telephone monologue in which a desperate young woman talks with her ex-lover, by whom she has been jilted. Barber’s piece is conceived from the male’s angle, the virtuosity of its model being taken one stage further by presenting it as a ‘dumb show’. Here the final severing of the affair is carried out not by telephone, but on a typewriter. (Peter Reynolds)

First performed by Simon Limbrick at the New Half Moon Theatre, London on 25 April 1981

Performances

25.04.81LONDONNew Half Moon TheatreSimon Limbrick
21.08.81CARDIFFChapter TheatreSimon Limbrick
25.08.81EDINBURGHChaplaincy CentreSimon Limbrick
27.08.81EDINBURGHChaplaincy CentreSimon Limbrick
28.08.81EDINBURGHChaplaincy CentreSimon Limbrick
30.08.81EDINBURGHChaplaincy Centre Simon Limbrick
04.05.84 CARDIFF Chapter TheatreDominic Hackett
05.05.84CARDIFF Chapter TheatreDominic Hackett
15.05.84COVENTRYWarwick University Arts CentreDominic Hackett
16.05.84HEANORSouth East Derbyshire CollegeDominic Hackett
17.05.84BLACKBURNSchool of ArtDominic Hackett
18.05.84STOCKTONDovecot Arts CentreDominic Hackett
20.05.84DURHAMTrevelyan CollegeDominic Hackett
21.05.84HULLSpring Street TheatreDominic Hackett
22.05.84BARNSLEYNorthern CollegeDominic Hackett
23.05.84NOTTINGHAMMidland GroupDominic Hackett
24.05.84OXFORDMuseum of Modern ArtDominic Hackett
25.05.84BRISTOLArnolfiniDominic Hackett
26.05.84LONDONAir GalleryDominic Hackett
28.01.89CARDIFFChapter TheatrePhil Girling

Related content

Playback (1981)

concert projects

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