The strongest man at last
The Druids seem to have bitten off more than they can chew – or drunk more than they can swallow – in their battle with John Barleycorn.
Based on a very old folk song – there have been printed versions around since the 16th century and the origins go back far beyond that – the story of John Barleycorn is the tale of how the cereal crop barley is used to create whisky and beer.
Poor John has to suffer many and varied tortures before he becomes his splendid alcoholic self – at which time he gets his revenge on his attackers by proving himself “the strongest man at last” and leaving them all helpless. Or at least legless.
The tale of John Barleycorn is one of the vignettes in “The Everlasting Circle” – a presentation by Aperitivo Performance Group of the changing seasons, loosely based on legends from the Colne Valley in Yorkshire, England.
In this beautifully presented piece of theatre, interspersed with songs from Rock to Mozart, three Dutchmen battle with the perennial problems of the year – trying to drag the moon out of the pond in Winter, build a wall around the cuckoo in Spring, and boil up lead to mend the leak in the tap of their beer barrel in Autumn.
Sooner or later they always come up against Reality, in the shape of The Policeman, who insists that in the Everlasting Circle of Life, there is a law against everything.
Also romping across the stage are three Scandinavian Norns, a Japanese Crane Wife, a band of Celtic Druids, a Chorus of multilingual singers, a Lord with a shotgun and Brünnhilde Freud, a psychoanalyst of operatic proportions.
Performances:
Thursday 5th and Friday 6th December at the Museum, São Brás, at 20h00, contact admin@amigos-museu-sbras.org, tel. 966329073
Saturday 7th December 20h00 at the Casa do Povo, Moncarapacho,
contact aperitivoperformancegroup@gmail.com
Aperitivo website: aperitivoperformancegroup.net
Photo: Roger Legg, Laila Wocke and Maria-José da Silva play Druids to Constant van Scherpenseel’s John Barleycorn in Aperitivo’s “The Everlasting Circle”.
Photo by: John Barleycorn
