re:mote voices

Title: The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes
Cast: Amira Casar, Gottfried John, Assumpta Serna, César Saracho
Director: Stephen Quay, Timothy Quay

The acclaimed opera singer Malvina van Stille is stealing a moment with her husband to be when flowers arrive once again from a persistent and unwanted admirer. Later in a pre-wedding performance for her friends Malvina collapses and is declared dead by Dr. Droz, one of the guests. But Droz is the unwanted admirer and he steals Malvina’s body away to his remote island retreat where he brings her back to life, of sorts.

Don Felisberto Fernandez is a piano tuner of unusual ability. Skills that have been passed down through generations of piano tuners. He has been summoned by a Dr. Droz, but is bemused to arrive on an island asylum – where “gardeners” or “patients” run around behaving oddly – to find that Droz has no piano. Instead he has a series of automatons. Mechanical contraptions that combine ambulatory figurines and intricate instruments, that Droz is determined only a tuner of Fernandez’s ability will be able to restore. Timing is crucial, Droz plans to restage events that were key in the silent Malvina’s trauma, helping her recover. But it is clear that there is more to Droz and his island than he lets on, with Droz’s housekeeper Assumpta manipulating and attempting to seduce Fernandez, and with his nights haunted by weird and vivid dreams.

The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes is a hallucinatory piece, combining live action and animation through a series of surreal set pieces. We follow in Fernandez’s footsteps, baffled and confused – what is real and what is dream? Seduced by the alluring beauty of Assumpta and Malvina by turns, while wary of the distinctly sinister Dr. Droz, concerned that his plans will tear everything apart.