Taking you inside a young girl's journey and musical awakening, 'Piano Lessions' focusses on Anna's intriguing relationship with her Russian teacher, Mrs Eleanora Sivan. Starting at the beginning of Anna's musical education and journey at the age of nine when she commenced piano lessons, the re-imagined production has a two-handed theatrical story alongside the dramaturgical talents of Michael Futcher.
Turning 'Piano Lessons' from words on pages into a part concert, part theatrical performance onstage proved easy enough for Anna. “Because the music is such an essential part of the actual story, I guess the adaptation to the stage has been quite an organic process. The music is sort of useful in that the book actually talks about the music and I also think the music helps add this extra dimension of emotional resonance, I suppose, to what the story is.”{youtube}UsmcZLa4jVk{/youtube}
Turning her book into an onstage production has given Anna the opportunity to explore other dimensions of her story, especially the missing component music. “It doesn't matter how hard you try, you can't really conjure up the spirit of music on the page. So I thought it could lend itself to that and also because the story, in many ways, sort of examines concepts of performance… So interpreting it through this medium and in a performance setting, I think gave a new resonance to that aspect of the book too.”
Writing 'Piano Lessons' brought up forgotten memories and feelings of her childhood, but Anna is appreciative of what she has learnt to accept during her journey. “It's a really curious thing to be acting in a play where you're reenacting certain episodes in your life. It's sort of curiously therapeutic in a way. I guess you sort of come to grips with your past and accept it. So writing was good fun. It was an amazing experience for me and I guess reinterpreting it now as a theatrical piece is, I guess, a continuation and extension of that journey.”Anna makes her acting debut by playing herself in 'Piano Lessons'. “I guess the biggest challenge for me is that I'm acting in this and I'm not an actor. So that's been a very steep learning curve, but a fascinating one.” Another tricky element of her role is to play herself both young and old and going from an acting role to a pianist. “There's a gear change between being a speaking person and being a playing person… Even when I'm acting I have a couple of different roles … sometimes I'm a narrator, the adult-self looking back, and sometimes I'm my child-self, the nine-year-old looking back.”
The music included in the show are pieces handpicked by Anna to add to the story and represent key moments. “The pieces I chose were a fundamental part of my own musical story.” Through this process, Anna has learnt a great deal about theatre and herself as a performer. “I guess any other experience, artistic or otherwise, you hope will enrich your own artistic expression. But having these insights into the process of theatre … that in itself has added a great deal of insight for me about how to interpret works… But beyond that, the actual art of interpretation. It's curious in this play because the role that I'm interpreting is one that I've written myself and it's about me and at times my directors have said, 'that's not a very convincing portrayal of yourself' which is curious.” Now a piano teacher herself, Anna is able to share her new experiences and skills with her students.'Piano Lessons' plays the Redland Performing Arts Centre, 4 July.
