Ofra Daniel’s A Song of Songs takes its inspiration from the biblical Song of Songs attributed to King Solomon, and its story incorporates similar ideas of letters from a lover and an outpouring of erotic emotion.
It is an original conception that tells its story through poetry, music, dance and narrative that draws on the culture of the Jewish diaspora, from Andalusian flamenco to Klezmer as well as the Middle East, and won the Will Glickman Prize for Best Production when first presented in San Francisco before the pandemic.
Its narrator begins with a description of a woman running barefoot and naked through the streets of Jerusalem, her nudity hidden by her long black hair, and there she is: Tirzah, played by Ofra Daniel herself, black clothes from head to foot taking the place of her flowing hair, is a woman no longer young, her gestures with angular arms and talon-like hands suggesting madness. She is mocked by the women of Jerusalem as she stands on a street corner to tell her own story, but as she begins it, she sheds her black garments and, dressed in white, seems to lose her years with them.
She now explains how as a young girl she is married off to a much older man, a fishmonger who already has two sons. There is a traditional wedding under a canopy, but Tirzah doesn’t love him, she is a frustrated housewife and childless. Then, when she is thirty, she receives a letter from an unknown admirer, a series of love missives that arouse passionate feelings for a lover she cannot meet, though there’s an ironic twist to the story which may be what sends her mad.
While the outline of the story is clear, the detail is frequently lost with songs in Hebrew untranslated and even English ones not always clear against the rich overall sound. It is a good band, dominated by Ramón Ruiz's guitar and Ant Romero’s percussion and led by Daniel Gouly on clarinet, but the score seems to fuse styles rather than celebrating flamenco or klezmer sounds, and Billy Mitchell’s choreography is a similar mixture, from Andalusian skirt swishing to belly dance, though I couldn’t work out what was going on when the dancers all jerked their heads like hens or pigeons, though it provided a much needed moment of humour.
The ensemble have good voices that blend in a great sound and are well drilled dancers. At first, they tend to be all darting eyes and matching movement with no real feeling behind it. It is not until a keening duet that it becomes imbued with real emotion and the dance gains a more expressive freedom.
A Song of Songs promises more than it delivers; it seeks to celebrate sensuality but left me unmoved.