GM FORECASTS RADICAL CHANGE - The Founder

thefounder Monday 29 January 2007
Imogen Heap: 21 st January
Oxford New Theatre
amongst the diverse audience and
as the lights dimmed there were
unexpected whoops from teenage
girl. My eyes were fixed on this stage
with three corsets on coat-hangers,
a transparent glass piano and a big
white furry rug. However, as the rest
of the ‘show’ would reveal, Imogen
Heap is not the most conventional
of performer and opened her set
with a headset mic walking through
the stalls shining a torch towards us.
The venue began to make a lot more
sense.
Imogen Heap has had an odd career
so far, but a very successful one
at that. At twenty nine years old, she
began life in music from a very early
age and it was not long before she
was snapped up by a label as was part
of the London based duo Frou Frou
as the lead singer. With hits such as
‘Let Go’-which she perfectly fit into
tonight’s set Frou Frou saw much
commercial success and were starting
to be used in many soundtrack’s
such as Shrek 2 and Garden State,
but were dropped in 2005. Heap was
made for the music industry and
just saw this as a progression into
her solo career. At the end of 2003
Heap announced she was to release
her first solo work. It was as a solo
artist that Heap was featured on the
OC’s soundtrack, along with other
great successes such as The Killers
and Sufjan Stevens.
The classic eccentric, Imogen
Heap mumbled her way through her
explanation of songs, revealing and
hiding meanings in perfect quantity.
The powerful set covered all the
eclectic hits from the haunting ‘Just
for Now’ to the running drums in
‘Closing In’ and the songs merged to
weave us through a beautiful narrative.
However a huge part of tonight
was not simply her set list but her
theatricality on stage and her performance
as a solo artist. Only on a
handful of songs was Heap joined by
any backing or band, namely ‘Nemo’
who doubled up as her support act.
Other than the more obvious bass
songs such as ‘Say Goodnight and
Go’ Heap guided herself through her
entire ‘Speak for Yourself ’ album by
electronically sprinkling magic dust
over orchestral strings, harps and
other things. There was of course
room for beautiful unplugged versions
of songs such as the heartwrenching
single, not from the
album ‘Speeding Cars’ which she
tinkled on her piano to and ‘Hide
and Seek’ which opened the encore.
It made sense to me why the
audience was fairly young. Imogen
Heap could come across as a fairly
pop-rock idol, having appeared on
teen-flick soundtracks and appearing
in her floaty flower printed skirt.
However, she is pop-rock, although
it is not in a bubblegum sort of way.
There is no Britney in Imogen despite
the catchy pop melodies. Heap
writes and performs with insight
and intellect. Her pop rock, as with
Frou Frou is atmospheric, dreamy
and quite ethereal.
In terms of stage presence, Heap
has it in abundance but once again
not in the conventional way. She did
not swig on a Stella but had a cup
of tea as made by Martha and her
water tasted funny because she had
just ‘used some rather odd mouth
wash’. She did not swear but graced
the stage with sophistication and
utter grace. She did not only please
the crowd by being a reliable artist
and playing all the hits; her voice is
incredibly velvety and her classical
background shone through, hitting
every note perfectly and with real
ease. An incredible evening of live
music, layered with mystic melodies,
layered harmonies shaped and
formed by Imogen Heap alone before
our very eyes. Heap warned us
that she will not be back for up to
a year and so it’s going to be a very
cold winter searching for an artist of
such imagination and unique style.
introduced to, Heap made us fully
By Beth Turrell
aware that is wasn’t going to be any
ordinary ‘gig’. Heap found her feet
Imogen Heap is incredible. quickly and it wasn’t long before she
She entered the New Theatre
in Oxford as a spectabox
sounds and her dreamlike har-
was filling the theatre with her beatcle
and set the atmosphere monies that characterise her experimental
style. Imogen Heap certainly
early on. With a feather
Mohican loosely poked is not a performer that struggles to
through her big brown hair and her hypnotise her audience.
repeating electronica parrot we were We took our seats in the stalls
ND THE WINNER IS…
The Olivier Awards 2006
y Beth Turrell
his month has seen the annual
in-flux of award nominations
announced. From
livier’s to Brits and on their way:
he Oscars…
2006 saw the success of the musical
n the shape of Billy Elliot along with
he critic’s hotshots: Hedda Gabler,
eath of a Salesman and Guys and
olls. Will 2007 bring fresh talent
Photo: Alex Parvin
onto the West End stage? Will the
expected media-popular hits scoop
everything or will we see some surprises
in the mix?
If last year is anything to go by and
with most award categories they are
only ever really three or four winners.
There are of course some surprises
but once you’ve seen whose
up for best play your pretty much
up to date on the nominations for
every other category. Think back to
the days of Take That, Gary Barlow
barely had to sit down at the piano
to claim all the gongs for that year,
presumably post their latest single
‘Patience’ they will no doubt, within
the next couple of years, scoop the
Outstanding Achievement Award
and be right up there with John
Lennon, Elton John and The Who.
The same goes with all the award
ceremonies. Don’t get me wrong, an
outstanding performance is often
just that and does not just mean that
the acting was superior to all other
aspects in the performance. Usually
hand in hand with superb acting is a
whole team of highly regarded professionals
pulling out all the stops to
put together a performance along
the lines of Mary Poppins, The Lion
King or Les Miserables so inevitably
the show is likely to claim all the silverware.
Just glance below at some
of the 2007 award categories for theatre’s
most prestigious Olivier award
nominations. Only certain plays,
actresses and actors can win and
whoever it is, is likely to be smothered
in awards. Well done Spamalot,
well done…
Best Actress
Eve Best for A MOON FOR THE
MISBEGOTTEN
Sinead Cusack for ROCK ‘N’ ROLL
Tamsin Greig for MUCH ADO
ABOUT NOTHING
Kathleen Turner for WHO’S
AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF?
Best Actor
Iain Glen for THE CRUCIBLE
David Haig for DONKEYS’ YEARS
Frank Langella for FROST/NIXON
Rufus Sewell for ROCK ‘N’ ROLL
Michael Sheen for FROST/NIXON
Best New Play
BLACKBIRD by David Harrower
FROST/NIXON by Peter Morgan
ROCK ‘N’ ROLL by Tom Stoppard
THE SEAFARER by Conor
McPherson
ARTS
Outstanding Musical
CABARET book by Joe Masteroff,
music by John Kander, lyrics by
Fred Ebb
EVITA lyrics by Tim Rice, music by
Andrew Lloyd Webber at the
THE SOUND OF MUSIC music by
Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar
Hammerstein II
SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH
GEORGE music and lyrics by
Stephen Sondheim
Best Director
Sam Buntrock for SUNDAY IN THE
PARK WITH GEORGE
Dominic Cooke for THE CRUCIBLE
Joe Mantello for WICKED
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