The Mozart Question
Scamp Theatre Present
The Mozart Question
By Michael Morpurgo
Performed by Andrew Bridgmont
Adapted by Simon Reade
Directed by Julia McShane
The Lowry, Mon 6 & Tue 7 July 2009
Press night: Mon 6 July, 7pm
Paolo Levi, a world class violinist who refuses to play Mozart, unveils a powerful tale of the musicians who survived the horrors of war using the only weapon they had – music.
On the eve of Paolo’s 50th birthday, as he prepares to play Mozart for the first time, Paolo tells the story of his Jewish parents who were forced to play Mozart for the enemy as young prisoners of war. They watched fellow Jews being led off to their deaths and knew that they were playing for their lives. But once the truth is told, the family is reunited in a way no one had thought possible.
The brand new dramatisation performed by actor and violinist Andrew Bridgmont takes the audience on a journey from the beauty of Venice to the horrors of the Nazi gas chambers.
First seen at The Old Vic Studio in 2007, Michael Morpurgo’s story is written for children aged 8 and over and explores the sharing the joy of music from one generation to the next and music’s power to transform and heal. The inspiration for The Mozart Question came from Michael Morpurgo’s awareness of the role of Jewish musicians at the camps who were forced to play Mozart to calm new arrivals, and the sight of a small boy listening to music in Venice.
Morpurgo explained:
“I wondered how it must have been for a musician who played in such hellish circumstances, who adored Mozart as I do - what thoughts came when playing Mozart later in life. This was the genesis of my story, this and the sight of a small boy in a square by Accademia Bridge in Venice, sitting one night in his pyjamas on his tricycle, listening to a busker. He sat totally enthralled by the music that seemed to him and me, to be heavenly”.
Michael Morpurgo is the author of War Horse, the best-selling novel that became a sell-out hit for the National Theatre. Morpurgo has been called “The Father of Children's Literature”. His books have won many awards and have been translated into over 26 languages. For two years, 2003 - 2005, he held the post of Children's Laureate and travelled widely, taking his love of story to children in the Western Isles of Scotland, Wales, England, all over Europe and even in Moscow and Soweto in South Africa. In 1976 he and his wife Clare set up the charity Farms for City Children which now runs three farms welcoming over 3000 children a year.
Posted on Monday, 18 May 2009 under Press Theatre Press