Performing Architecture
John Hill
7. april 2016
A Marvelous Order (Photo: Screenshot)
Two new performance pieces explore architecture and planning in the middle of last century: A Marvelous Order, an opera about Robert Moses and Jane Jacobs; and The Master Builder, an adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's play now set in Pittsburgh.
A Marvelous Order, which was presented at Williams College in Massachusetts last month, is directed by Joshua Frankel, who first came to our attention with the 2011 animated film Plan of the City, where New York City buildings launch themselves into space. His new undertaking focuses on the 1960s battle between "power broker" Robert Moses and urban activist Jane Jacobs: the latter (successfully) opposed the former's attempt to push a highway through Greenwich Village. Accompanyting the operatic storytelling are animations crafted by Frankel.
A preview of A Marvelous Order:
The Master Builder is a contemporary version of Henrik Ibsen's late-19th-century play of the same name. Directed by Martin Giles, the new work moves the play's title character, Halvard Solness, from Norway in the 19th century to Pittsburgh in the 1950s. A collaboration between Quantum Theatre and the Heinz Architectural Center of the Carnegie Museum of Art, The Master Builder is fittingly presented on the 9th floor of 2 Allegheny Center, so the city through the 1960s curtain wall becomes a backdrop for the performances.
A preview of The Master Builder:
Heinz curator Raymund Ryan discusses mid-20th-century Pittsburgh, The Master Builder, and HACLab Pittsburgh: Imagining the Modern on display at the Carnegie Museum of Art until 2 May 2016: