Review – Clara: Sex, Love and Classical Music

Review by Andreea Helen David.

“I couldn’t help feeling more like an artist than a mother. All I wanted, all I needed was to play”

For those so inclined you probably know about Clara Schumann, but I didn’t until I was saw this astonishing play. What a way to learn about this extraordinary woman. Leading a contradictory life where she found herself as a prodigy pushed by her father to be nothing short of a sensational piano player and being a wife and mother when for a long part of her life she had to put her artistry on second if not third place. And this is when many women will relate completely, no matter what era they are living in.

Written and performed by Elena Mazzon, this hystorical and sometimes hysterical account, has Clara bare her heart to us. The dim candle lights, the warmth in Elena’s performance, the audience’s involvement, the pub atmosphere makes you feel you have Clara right in front of your eyes, conversing with you. It helps that, Elena Mazzon besides a talented writer and performer, is a great pianist too. Not to mention her command of the several languages she speaks in throughout the show.
I loved the honesty in voicing her longing, desire, pleasure and displeasure. We might not all be pianists and composers but Clara is so many of us.
“I wasn’t born to stitch socks, I was born to do this”> plays piano.

What the team have managed, Elena with a stunning performance and unapologetical but respectful writing, Catriona with her direction and Stefania Passamonte as the music director, is to capture the spirit of those times perfectly and yet make the play timeless.

Remarkable and elegant through and through, and when she is at the piano it is quite cinematic but best thing about it, it is not cinema, that’s why it’s so precious. A complete artistic endeavour.

Dates and times:
1st August- 7:30pm

2nd August- 7pm [double bill with Stefania Passamonte at 8pm]
3rd August – 3pm

Running Time: 60 minutes

Venue: 46b Richmond Road (The back of The Grey Horse Pub) 
Kingston upon Thames, KT2 5EE

Tickets: https://www.designmynight.com/london/whats-on/theatre/clara

More infos: https://livelondonpost.com/clara-sex-love-and-classical-music/