AFTER VENICE

Choreographer’s Note: “After Venice is not a literal re-telling of Thomas Mann novella Death in Venice; that story serves as the theme into which variations on ‘reality’ are interwoven. The outline of that story is alluded to and the essential familiar characters retained but rather as a new mosaic patterned from existing elements. Venice, the city, did not exist in this dance of love and death. It is a state of mind, the place to which the artist comes for the replenishment of the creative spirit, a place where past, present and future are examined in the struggle to find the reason for existence. As the blackness of death shuts down the imagination forever, Aschenbach (Garth Welch) is permitted to depart, eyes witnessing the ‘pure’ beauty of his Tadzio (Paul Mercurio). In After Venice, it is we who glimpse the flaws in the marble from which Aschenbach has sculpted his idol.”
Graeme Murphy AO

After Venice premiered in December 1984 at the Drama Theatre of the Sydney Opera House and toured nationally as well as Greece, Italy and Spain, and the US.

Original Program

“Stunning movement and haunting moods make it a tour de force”
Janice Berman, Newsday, New York

“After Venice is an extraordinary work, one that grips you in the theatre and haunts you when you’ve left it….The fabric of movement in it shows that Murphy has a rare skill as a dance dramatist.”
Jill Sykes, Sydney Morning Herald , Dec 3, 1984

“Perhaps Mr. Murphy’s real coup de theatre is the use of Olivier Messaien’s Turangalila Symphony. With its 10 very dramatic movements, the Messaien is a symphony to swoon by – it has the power and the glory, the ecstatic dimension for a tale of climax and decline. It is marvelous, enveloping all in a texture of sound.” Anna Kisselgoff, The New York Times

Featured video: Scene 1

Videos Tab above: Scene 2, 3 & 4

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