The Music and The Muse
The creative team talks about the important role of music in AN ILIAD
Neither the poet Homer nor our Poet in An Iliad can sing their song without the help of the Muse, one of the nine goddesses of inspiration. The goddess most directly inspiring to both Homer and our Poet would be Calliope, the muse of epic poetry. Calliope is often depicted with either a scroll or a lyre, reflecting the relationship between poetry and music. Both Homer and our Poet call to the Muse, asking her to sing through him the story of the war, calling to life Hector, Achilles, and the raging battles. On our stage, the Muse answers the call in the form of Liz Filios and the music she conjures in the theater.
According to M. Craig Getting, the director of An Iliad, “Playwrights Lisa Peterson and Denis O’Hare suggest a live musician in their script notes, but they leave the specifics of that up to each production. So we decided pretty early on that the Muse would be an active, literal participant in the telling of the story. This opened a world of possibilities.”
To explore those possibilities musically, actress/musician/composer Filios has partnered with sound designer and co-composer Michael Hahn to create a soundscape that makes surprising use of instruments and the theater space. In addition to the instruments themselves, “the broken-down theater setting lends itself to a ‘found object’ orchestra in the way of a broken piano, old crates, glasses, and metal structures,” says Hahn.
“Because that’s what the Muse can do, she can imbue just about anything with music.” —M. Craig Getting, director
Filios is a virtuosic musician, and her collaboration with Hahn has allowed her Muse access to a dizzying array of instruments from all over the world. In addition to piano and cello, often played in nontraditional ways, Filios says: “We have ceng-ceng and a gong from Indonesia. We have a tabla drum from India. There’s a hand carved wooden flute from a Haida tribe near Seattle, and an Appalachian dulcimer that my mother handed down to me.” She’s most excited, however, for the instrument with deep significance for both the play and the collaboration: the lyre.
Calliope played the lyre, and so it seems fitting to have one in this production. I tried to find one with no success. Then, right before tech, one arrived in the mail, courtesy of Mike Hahn. I took it home that evening, taught myself to tune it, and played it all night long. Onstage I get to portray the Poet’s Muse, but I think the real muse is the Lyre itself. — Liz Filios, actor, musician, and co-composer
This ancient inspiration is coupled with more modern technology, echoing the play’s conversation between past and present. Archaic instruments and unusual musical scales are paired with modern technology that can enhance and distort those sounds when the moment calls for it. As Hahn notes, “most of the traditional programming aspects of the show are designed in a way that takes the realistic world of sound that is being created and give it a larger-than-reality presence in the room — echoes of war drums past, funeral gongs on distant hilltops, wind and fury from an ancient war that is called up by the Poet and the Muse.”
All three collaborators agree that the music of the Muse is played in the service of the Poet and his story. “Sometimes the poetry thrives over a driving rhythm. Sometimes it needs a sense of magic because the gods in this story are real, actual beings. Sometimes it just needs silence,” says Getting. According to Hahn, “The text is the melody in this piece and everything we’ve tried to do is in support of Peter DeLaurier’s Poet, not to overpower. It’s always been about harmonizing with him — matching his rhythm.” And according to Filios, the Muse herself: “I like to imagine Peter as the one who draws the picture. I just color it in.”
The Muse and her music are imperative for the Poet to carry on. But the Poet is ultimately as necessary for the Muse, according to Getting: “The Poet needs her help to sing the song; she needs his voice to make it land on our ears. Along the way, they egg each other on. They tease each other. They fight. And they honor one another.”
To experience the music of the Muse onstage, join us for An Iliad at Lantern Theater Company. The show runs November 10 to December 11. Visit our website for tickets and information.
