Frida Kahlo show mostly revolves around a boring conductor

You would think that Frida Kahlo’s sister is about the sister of the famous Mexican artist. Yet this family performance mainly revolves around Frederik, a conductor in the twilight of his career, played by Servaes Nelissen. He and his orchestra rehearse for a concert full of Mexican songs, but Frederik struggles with his health. As the music swirls, he finds himself in strange situations. What really happens, and what are a patient’s fever dreams?

Servaes Nelissen came up with the concept of the performance with chamber music ensemble SeaSession; he designed the decor and wrote the lyrics. In Frida Kahlo’s sister the theater maker creates a colorful universe. The centerpiece is a hotel or dressing room, which turns into an infirmary as soon as someone draws the curtains.

Animated films are shown on the fabric, made by Sjeng Schupp. The conductor is then a cartoon character with gray tufts of hair and glasses with heavy black frames. He floats between musical notes, through his own bloodstream or past spinning furniture. Skeletons in the style of ‘Día de Muertos’, the Mexican holiday on which the dead are remembered, also appear. They are touching films that give a glimpse into the confused brain of the conductor. Frederik appears to be heading for death.

Sombreros

At the front of the stage is a pianola, which sometimes plays a tune; at the back of the stage is a nine-piece orchestra in colorful outfits. They play one Mexican song after another, from the melancholy ‘Solidad’ to the jumpy ‘Tabú’. It is music by composers from the twentieth century, which is neatly performed, but sometimes remains a bit tame.

Frida Kahlo’s sister doesn’t whirl off the stage anyway. The design is creative, but many visual finds and jokes feel corny. When a bullfight turns into a dance, you wonder if you haven’t seen anything like it before. The Mexico clichés are eagerly ticked off: cacti – check, sombreros – yes. Nelissen sets the tone in the opening scene. He enters with ‘monobrow’ plus mustache and stumbles on mechanical stilts that peep out from under a long dress. You recognize Frida Kahlo, but as a flattened character.

And the sister from the title? Christina is a ghost, who especially has to listen to Frederik’s lamentation. When she paints, she paints him, with a disappointed bow for a mouth. At the end of this performance you have mainly got to know a rather boring conductor.