This year, Sound Theater planned an ambitious season devoted to women playwrights, directors, and composers and they could not have chosen a more apt finale than Goblin Market. The source is the 1859 poem by Christina Rossetti that is part children’s fairy tale and part psychosexual adventure. Polly Pen and Peggy Harmon have taken the poem and transformed it into a mythical exploration of sexuality and the enduring bonds of sisterhood. In creating the music for Goblin Market Pen (and by extension Music Director Nathan Young who added additional vocal arrangements) has used every tool in the composer’s toolbox. The score is a heady combination of the modern classical style with its dissonant chords and soaring melodies integrated with adapted art songs from composers the likes of Johannes Brahms and Antonio Lotti.
The show begins in a seemingly abandoned child’s nursery and, having come from the preshow “music” of eerie children’s laughter and thunder, an ominous tone is immediately struck. This feeling of impending doom hangs like a cloud over the entire show imbuing even the most playful of moments with tension and darkness. The story begins with sisters Lizzie and Laura as they reminisce. Eventually, they are completely taken back into their childhood memories.
The show is double cast with four incredibly talented women. Claire Marx and Justine Davis share the role of the older and more serious sister Lizzie while Kelly Mak and Miranda Troutt take on the role of the younger and much more impetuous sister Laura. On their off nights, they still must fill the roles of the ensemble, goblins, and shadows.
On the night I attended, I had the pleasure of seeing Troutt and Marx as the sisters with Davis and Mak filling out the rest of the characters. What was immediately evident was the incredible chemistry between Troutt and Marx. Their relationship was clear and vibrant from the first moments they shared on stage. As the intrepid and impulsive sister Laura, Troutt soars through the incredibly challenging music with astounding technique while not letting it get in the way of her completely embodying the role. Lesser humans would be able to achieve one or the other but Troutt seems to conquer both with seeming ease. As Lizzie, the pillar of goodness and responsibility, Marx brought a beautifully complex maturity to both the music and the physicality of the role. Marx’s rich, lusty tone brought depth to the character and blended perfectly with Troutt.
Director (and Producing Artistic Director) Teresa Thuman does a masterful job of painting beautiful pictures and evoking the ethereal settings with minimal sets. Thuman and Choreographer/Fight/Movement Director Lee Ann Hittenberger work wonderfully together, fully utilizing the small cast and filling the stage. This artistic economy is also mirrored in the orchestra. Though they may be small in number, they are not in sound. Conducted by Aimee Hong, the piano, violin, and cello never sound sparse.
Despite all of the complicated imagery and symbolism, I see Goblin Market, at its core, as a love story between sisters. Their strong bond is the foundation upon which all of the more intricate elements of the story can exist.
Goblin Market, by Polly Pen and Peggy Harmon is adapted from the poem Goblin Market by Christina Rossetti with music by Polly Pen and lyrics by Christina Rossetti. Produced by Sound Theatre Company. Playing August 10-27th at the Center Theatre in the Armory Building at the Seattle Center. For info and tickets visit www.soundtheatrecompany.org.
