{"id":363042,"date":"2025-08-21T21:28:11","date_gmt":"2025-08-21T21:28:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/363042\/"},"modified":"2025-08-21T21:28:11","modified_gmt":"2025-08-21T21:28:11","slug":"sirena-the-glitch-london","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/363042\/","title":{"rendered":"Sirena \u2013 The Glitch, London"},"content":{"rendered":"

Writer<\/strong> and Composer: Kirsty Ferguson-Lewis<\/strong><\/p>\n

Director: \u00a0Selwin Hulme-Teague<\/strong><\/p>\n

In Homer\u2019s Odyssey, the Sirens sing a song so exquisite and irresistible that any sailor who hears it is overcome with longing. Thus enchanted, the sailor steers his ship toward the source of the music, only to be wrecked on the rocky coast. \u00a0In her 40-minute piece Sirena, composer, performer, and producer Kirsty Ferguson-Lewis seeks to reimagine the myth from a feminist perspective in what the show blurb describes as \u201csubversive contemporary opera\u201d. Conceived during studies at Goldsmiths University and first seen in 2022, Ferguson-Lewis\u2019s show blends voice, dance, and dreamy pop-infused electronic music with hints of performance art.<\/p>\n

The week-long run at The Glitch forms part of the venue\u2019s Vault Creative Arts programme and coincides with the launch of a studio recording of the show. Classically voice-trained Ferguson-Lewis is accompanied in the form of a Greek chorus by Italian actor and singer, Ilenia Cipollari and German-born musician and performer Franziska B\u00f6hm.<\/p>\n

The trio\u2019s costumes, long flowing sky blue robes wrapped around the body and held fast with belts of electric cord, hint at a Greek theme. A later addition adds dresses made from fishing nets. Beyond the visual clues, any obvious connection with Homeric myth is hard to detect. These are decidedly up-to-date Sirens. In one song, Ferguson-Lewis seems to be playing the part of an online sex-worker, selling a menu of services to a punter by the name Finance300. \u201cLet me tell you about all the men I meet on the internet\u201d, she sings as she opens her laptop and starts a Zoom call. The chorus assures her she is \u201cgreat at virtual kisses\u201d.<\/p>\n

Soon, the character takes on the wealthy Finance300, who, as a sugar daddy, \u201cis generous and good with his bank\u201d. Inevitably, \u201csweetness turns to sour\u201d, leading her to lament, \u201cI\u2019m witness to my ancient sorrow\u201d, though the exact nature of the ancient sorrow is not clear.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard to date when your voice is a narcotic\u201d, she complains, but despite the encumbrance, she soon finds a boyfriend. \u201cI\u2019d rather kiss you than go to work\u201d, she tells us, a sentiment not necessarily restricted to feminists, one supposes. Other songs include one set in what seems to be a circus dressing room, another that appears to involve washing robes at a laundry, and one that is sung in Latin.<\/p>\n

Ferguson-Lewis has an attractive stage presence and a clear, fresh tone to her voice, but the acoustics of The Glitch make it hard to catch many of the lyrics, adding to the piece\u2019s occasionally impenetrable air. Still, the harmonies are lovely, the choreography works, particularly in the ethereal opening sequence, and the trio of performers has tremendous chemistry. As a feminist response to Homer, the piece never quite emerges from its academic origins. As a collection of dreamy, electro tunes, it is a pleasant enough way to pass the time.<\/p>\n

Runs until 21 August 2025<\/strong><\/p>\n

\t\t\tThe Reviews Hub Star Rating<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Writer and Composer: Kirsty Ferguson-Lewis Director: \u00a0Selwin Hulme-Teague In Homer\u2019s Odyssey, the Sirens sing a song so exquisite…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":363043,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7757],"tags":[748,393,127348,4884,127349,127350,257,6080,127351,127352,24794,2764,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-363042","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-london","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-franziska-bohm","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-ilenia-cipollari","13":"tag-kirsty-ferguson-lewis","14":"tag-london","15":"tag-review","16":"tag-selwin-hulme-teague","17":"tag-sirena","18":"tag-the-glitch","19":"tag-theatre","20":"tag-uk","21":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115068882362446070","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363042","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=363042"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363042\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/363043"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=363042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=363042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=363042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}