Chaos and fun at John Cage's Musicircus

English National Opera, London Coliseum
33-35 St. Martin's Lane, London WC2N 4ES [map], Saturday 3rd March 2012

To celebrate what would have been John Cage's 100th birthday, the ENO opera company produced the American composer's 'omnium gatherum' piece, billed as a 'promenade experience of spectacular and extraordinary performances.'

The free event took place throughout the London Coliseum, and proved to be a really exciting, unusual experience. We loved it!




Visitors were encouraged to take a circular walk through the building and interact with the Musicircus, which was made up of a wide range of musicians and actors all performing different works simultaneously to create a 'unique, exciting and seemingly anarchic sound.'

Although that sounds wildly random, the events were actually precisely controlled, with each act's timing being dictated by a stopwatch.



All sorts of intriguing musical happenings took place, often interspersed with long periods of silence, with the musicians playing set pieces at preconfigured times.



The electronic guys.



Fella playing a saw.



I loved the way that odd musical events sparked off in unusual places, which would suddenly burst into life and stop just as unexpectedly.







There was a musical piece going on inside the ladies loos, with singing coming from a cubicle.





Visitors were encouraged to walk around the building to visit and revisit the acts and performances.



Looking inside the main theatre hall.





Looking down into the action below.





A very small keyboard.





Odd performance pieces took place all around the building.







Jean Paul Jones - from rock superstars Led Zeppelin - with a striking triple necked guitar.



I loved the way you were never sure who was a performer and who wasn't - here the bar staff suddenly started playing a bell ensemble.



An actor reads aloud.











This fella gave a lecture about mushrooms. And why not.



The event was recorded by the BBC.






A harpist plays John Cage.



Solo violinist, perched up high.











An opera singer performs from behind the bar.



This guy made all sorts of delightful noises.



The clapping twins.





I loved this dinner table tableaux. Each half of the table would sing a different song or perform a different action, depending on the outcome of dice being thrown.















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