Concept
by Chloe Lamford
& Wende. Created by Chloe Lamford, Wende, Isobel Waller-Bridge & Imogen
Knight. Words by E.V.
Crowe, Sabrina Mahfouz, Somalia Nonyé Seaton, Stef Smith & Debris Stevenson.
Performed by Wende,
Nils Davidse, Emma King & Midori Jaeger. Electronic
Producer Jan van
Eerd. Additional Arrangement Fiona Brice.
Assistant Director Izzy
Rabey. Creative Producer Wouter van Ransbeek. Theatre
Producer/Business Management Ulrike
Bürger-Bruijs. Production Manager Tim van der Does. Stichting Wende and
Royal Court Theatre London and International Theater Amsterdam.. Adelaide
Festival. The Space. Adelaide Festival Centre. March 7-10 2024
Reviewed by
Peter Wilkins
Singer Wende is a force of nature with a voice that can summon a cyclone of song or a gentle breeze of melody, Wende’s one woman musical The Promise at The Space Theatre is an exhilarating explosion of emotions that can only be given a voice in song. She embodies one woman’s song with universal resonance in a world of questions about who we are and what we want. She sings the song of the woman in numbers such as Good Women by Sabrina Mahfouz, encouraging the audience to sing along to the chorus as an affirmation of being not good, not bad but a good enough mother. She confronts her fears and embraces her independent courage in EV Crowe’s Dark Black Pool and Crowe’s Motherfucker in which the audience again is invited to sing with defiant relish.. Her show is a search for answers and a quest for a confident, honest identity through the doubts and the sacrifices that will lead to her discovery of her final promise to herself, to be herself, free of guilt, independent and no more a Lonely Bitch but a free spirit.
She is joined in this quest by her three
collaborating musicians, Nils Davidse on synthesizer and piano, Emma King on
percussion and Midori Jaeger on cello and keyboard. At times they provide vocal
backing in a wonderful synchronicity of music and song. In Debra
Stevenson’s Beast Undone Wende, thumping the notes of the open piano keys with
a tumult of orchestration by the musicians arouses a violent tribal exorcism of
the fears, the doubts and the conditioning that bind her. It is riveting,
compelling and fiercely liberating. The
Promise is an exultation of self in a show that is part rock musical, part
cabaret, part music theatre and totally original and dynamic.
The audience in the round in The Space leapt to a spontaneous standing ovation, overwhelmed by Wende’s boundless energy and stellar talent. They are bewitched by her ready charm and easy rapport as she recounts her pitch at the Royal Court or her search for the London house of her early childhood. Born in the home of invention at London’s Royal Court Theatre The Promise offers a revelatory new style in music theatre. It is groundbreaking in its originality, uplifting in its musicianship and universal in its appeal. It promises an exciting experience at the theatre and it delivers in spades!
