Tuesday evening saw the opening performance of "Picnic by Hanging Rock" in the Salle Robert Krieps in the Abbaye de Neumunster in Luxembourg-Grund by the BGT English Theatre Company and directed by Tony Kingston.
Based on the 1967 novel by Joan Lindsay based on real events, and newly-adapted for the stage by Tom Wright (it premiered in Mlbourne in 2016), the five-strong all-female cast play a number of characters who bring to life one of the great mystery stories of the 20th century.
On 14 February, St Valentine's Day, in summertime in Victoria in south-east Australia, a group of 20 schoolgirls and two governesses from Miss Appleyard’s Private Girls’ School goes on a picnic outing to the “Hanging Rock”, a well-known local landmark. Mid-afternoon, a group of four of the girls go off to explore the rock itself, but three of them and a governess vanish without a trace, with another girl returning in hysterics.
The prodcution traces the ensuing search and the effect - both psychological as well as physical - it has on those at the Victorian-era school, both staff and pupils, as well as local inhabitants, with inner truths, frustrations and feelings rising to the surface and threatening to tear the school an the lives of the people at it, apart.
One of the girls is found by a young Englishman holidaying nearby a week later, confused, disorientated and with no memory of the events; some believe her to be "seeking drama" and not believing her - to be point of being denied food at the school.
In the story, Miss Appleyard's Private Girls' School stands for Victorian order and virtue where the girls are taught how to behave correctly and control their desires. Meanwhile, the "Hanging Rock" represents a symbol of dark power which is ready to erupt at any moment.
But what really happened at "Hanging Rock"? While one can paint comparisons with Arthur Miller's The Crucible about strange ahppenings concerning young girls in the New England town of Salem, Massachusetts, in 1692, including accusations of witchcraft, "Picnic at Hanging Rock" is more contemporary in that respect, by 200 years. However, the minds of teenage girls are open to thoughts and ideas, even flights of fancy, and are often influenced by outside forces.
The cast (Laura Lizak, Gina Millington, Céline Planata, Martina Sardelli and June Lowery) puts is a superb and stirring performance in this 90-minute production, with the first half setting the scene, then emotions reaching boiling point in the third quarter in a number of somewhat-absurd scenes, before the final quarter trying to tie up the loose ends without ever reaching a firm conclusion; sometimes having issues left hanging in the air is the most satisfactory outcome, letting the audience draw their own conslusions as to actually what happened.
The production continues on Wednesday and Thursday evenings, with performances at 20:00 at the Abbaye de Neumunster. Tickets cost €20 (students €10) from www.neimenster.lu or tel: 262052–444
