Novecento

Synopsis

The audience drank it all in without moving. Every breath held, every eye glued to the piano, every mouth hanging open, like perfect idiots. They stayed like that, in total silence, in a complete stupor, even after that furious closing blast of chords that made it seem as though he d a hundred hands, or as though the piano was about to explode any minute. Danny Boodmann TD Lemon Novecento was born on board an ocean liner and abandoned under the grand piano. Constantly sailing between Britain and America, never setting foot on land, Novecento grows up as the best jazz pianist in the world. This wonderfully evocative play swings to musical rhythms and to the swell of the ocean.

Our Review:

2 November 2010

A hymn to companionship, music and the sea Novecento is a love song set in a time when romance infused the everyday and men were still legends. Alessandro Baricco’s rich monologue, part of new season Donmar Trafalgar, is an engrossing and engaging tale of "the greatest pianist who every played on the Ocean." It may stumble into the trap of verbose sentimentality towards its explosive conclusion, but Ann Goldstein’s wry translation ensures this is, for the most part, a robust and entertaining homage.

From the moment he is found on the grand piano aboard the glittering Virginian, Danny Boodman TD Lemon Novecento’s life is bound up inexorably with the ocean and music. Never stepping on dry land, Novecento absorbs all he knows of the world from the life that ebbs and flows through the ship, pouring each new story and melody he hears into the creation of otherworldly notes and compositions.

Told through the eyes of NovecentoR...

Read more of the review

Latest User Review

David Baxter - 6 November 2010:

I was tempted to give this a miss; the prospect of a 90-minute monologue after enduring the horrors of the tube strike the day before made even staying at work seem like a better option. I'm glad I didn't though as Novecento is almost entirely captivating. Brilliantly performed by Mark Bonnar it tells the weird and wonderful story of a baby abandoned on a ship carrying immigrants to America who grows up to be an astonishing pianist who never sets foot on dry land, spending his entire life on the same ship. Bonnar's engrossing performance is enhanced by highly evocative lighting and sound effects but, wisely, there is no attempt to replicate Novecento's other-worldly piano playing. Unfortunately after a spellbinding 90 minutes with the narrator we are then required to endure a disappointing 10 minutes of highly pretentious pseudo mysticism from Novecento himself. That's a shame but it should not detract from a remarkable performance given an imaginative production by Roisin McBrinn....

Read more and add your own review