Babel

Geräuschbiest—West End Cultural Centre-Ventura Hall

With bespoke handmade string instruments, played with bows and the occasional blow, Geräuschbiest leads the Riel Gentlemen’s Choir, who act as an appropriately manly Greek (Sumerian?) chorus through an ancient parable of hubris.

The production’s powerful harmonies and striking visuals are suitable for a tale of biblical proportions. Shouty refrains from the choir punctuate the mounting tension as the performers construct something both solid and precarious on stage, reaching ever higher into the limits of the known world, not because they should but because they can.

The lyrics incorporate passages from Ecclesiastes, echoing a warning from our Abrahamic ancestors on the consequences of flippantly violating the laws of nature purely for egotistical gains. The performance feels less like a retelling than a ritual, breathing contemporary life into an ancient wisdom to sound as urgent now as it must have then.

Ashley Frantik