'Maud, a monodrama', is a poem by Alfred Lord Tennyson from 1855, in which a man tells about his obsessive love for the noble Maud. The poet describes him as "the heir of madness...raised to sanity by a pure and holy love...passing from the height of triumph to the lowest depth of misery, driven into madness by the loss of her whom he has loved." Martin Sercombe made a visual and auditory interpretation of this poem on video. It forms the basis for his performance with vocal artist and musician, Sinead Jones. Sercombe and Jones previously worked together on the video 'Singing the Horizon' (1997), a cyclical exploration of a landscape using an audio-visual synthesis. After that, they made 'Tongues Undone' with poet-performer Chris Cheek (1998). This complex performance focused on the interaction and transformation of image and sound, as well as visual and spoken language. Poetry played an important role here on various levels. In 'Maud', poetry and landscape conduct a dialogue, flow together and reinforce one another. The few fragments that Sercombe uses from this long poem are sufficient to portray the scale of emotions that the "I" figure goes through. The scraps of text are first recited clearly by Sercombe in voice-over. He then recycles the fragments through many electro-acoustic processes. As a result, the musical and concrete properties and the wonderful rhythm of the poetry come to the fore. The deconstruction of the words creates a layered and echoing landscape of sound that makes the poem's intense emotions palpable. The accompanying images are derived from two completely different landscapes: the New Zealand bush with its fishing waters in the summer, and English woods and marshes in the winter, that sometimes recall 'Singing the Horizon'. The incredibly slow digital 'shutter speed' and the cyclical movements of the hand-held camera provide languorous, sometimes completely abstract images that, like the soundtrack, correspond to the tone of the poetry fragments. During the performance the tape is projected onto a large screen. The soundtrack is supplemented by the live voice of Jones in the role of Maud, who is invisible to the audience during the first section. In the last part, she performs a dance on stage, where unseen sample triggers on her body respond directly to her movements. Her performance integrates electronically processed samples, movement and live voice improvisation. The video begins with a sun-drenched wood that shimmers in expectation. The "in a moment we shall meet" sounds longing but quickly becomes ominous. The distorted voice seems to come from a strange spirit in the amorous man's mind, as a forewarning of his madness. He tries to silence the voice but only more voices come. Branches with thorns and red berries appear, the love becomes painful, the voice disquieting. As the bright colours give way to bleak grey winter, despair takes hold. The man is swallowed up in a whirlpool of calamity. His possessiveness and "morbid hate and horror" become audible in the music. Then Maud appears on stage in a white Victorian costume. She blocks the projected images, casting a shadow on the screen, whilst answering with her voice and movements. Behind her the sun can still be glimpsed. Like the tortured heart of the crazed man, the band of light twists and wriggles before it turns into an empty shell and dies.
– Lies Holtrop |
Video: Martin Sercombe
Singing, violin: Sianed Jones
Martin Sercombe, 1953, Exeter (GBR)
Lives and works in Norwich (GBR)
Sianed Jones, 1959, Aberystwyth (GBR)
Lives and works in Lowestoft (GBR)
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