Imagined Stage Production of Morton Feldman's Opera, "Neither"

by Chris Villars

Setting

Stage, in darkness throughout. Towards the back of the stage, parallel with the front, a row of five large screens, six feet wide by nine feet tall or larger (depending on stage size), with a gap between each, maybe eighteen inches. Each screen capable by means of light projection, or alternative electronic method, of appearing to the audience black or white or any shade of grey in between.

Soprano (S), appearance as specified for May in Samuel Beckett's play Footfalls: "dishevelled grey hair, worn grey wrap hiding feet, trailing". S moves, as specified in the actions below, along an imaginary strip parallel to stage front and between the screens and the audience. S faintly spot-lit throughout.

Actions

All screen colour changes slow and continuous, passing through all intermediate shades of grey. All movements of S take place during purely instrumental passages. Bar number ranges indicate the suggested passage for each move. The moves should be as slow as possible within the short durations allowed. The approximate times given relate to the recording on the Col Legno label (WWE 1CD 20081).

1. [00:00] Start of music.
2. [~03:00] Curtain up. All five screens identical mid-grey. S facing audience, head bowed, at middle of screen 2 (second screen from audience left). Singing position 1. Raises head before singing (at bar 145).
   
3. [~13:00] Move 1 (bars 373 to 409): S bows head, turns to her right and walks to middle of screen 1. As she does so, screens 1, 3, 5 change as follows (screens 2, 4 remain mid-grey throughout the performance):
         1, 5: Mid-grey to black
         3: Mid-grey to white
   S stops, turns and faces audience. Singing position 2. Raises head before singing.
   
4. [~25:00] Move 2 (bars 653 to 690): S bows head, turns to her left and walks to middle of screen 3. As she does so, screens change as follows:
         1,5: Black to white
         3: White to black
   (All screens identical mid-grey as S passes middle of screen 2.)
   S stops, turns and faces audience. Singing position 3. Raises head before singing.
   
5. [~34:00] Move 3 (bars 860 to 908): S bows head, turns to her left and walks to middle of screen 5. Screens change as follows:
         1,5: White to black
         3: Black to white
   (All screens identical mid-grey as S passes middle of screen 4.)
   S stops, turns and faces audience. Singing position 4. Raises head before singing.
   
6. [~48:00] Move 4 (bars 1210 to 1225): S bows head, turns to her right and walks to middle of screen 4. All screens change to mid-grey.
   S stops, turns and faces audience. Singing position 5. Raises head before singing.
   
7. [~56:00] End of music. Curtain down.

July 2012