AN ITALIAN WEDDING

Co-created by Fabio Motta and Kristine Landon-Smith, this was a headphone verbatim show exploring themes of marital relationships. A number of interviewees—all of Italian heritage and based in Melbourne—gave personal accounts of their weddings and marriages, which were recorded anonymously. Several hours of fascinating stories were then edited down to a single hour; actors then listened to the voices whilst in performance, repeating at the same time what they hear as accurately as possible and with no emphasis, caricature or judgement. The result is a series of authentic voices spanning generations producing a moving, poignant and humorous piece of theatre.

I composed and recorded music to introduce the show and to signify the beginnings and ends of theme-related sections. Listening to the recordings showed me the musicality of the Italian cadences and these pretty much gave me the melodic themes I eventually used.

The show was performed as part of the Mother Tongue festival, run by Melbourne’s La Mama Theatre. A couple of years later, in London, a re-edited version of the show was filmed, for which I revised my score—when it is finally edited and finished you will be able to see and hear it in my Music for Film section. But for now, these are the cues for the live show.