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A CurtainUp 
London Review
London ReviewI Found My Horn
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A horn Armada on a sea of brass— Jasper Rees
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Jonathan Guy Lewis and his horn (Photo: Alastair Muir) |
In a monologue interspersed with fragments of horn music and some live solo playing, Jonathan Guy Lewis holds forth for 75 amusing and occasionally painful minutes with the story of the year that leads up to his solo performance. The nerves and fears he describes will be well known to performers in any art form. Jasper is under the tutelage for his solo performance of an experienced horn player, Northerner Dave Lee whom he met at an event called "The Mass Horn Blow," But first Jasper describes finding his neglected instrument in the attic and takes us back to his initial forays into horn playing in the school orchestra. He portrays for us the school music teacher and conductor who despairs of the second horn (Jasper) ever playing on his cue. Meanwhile Jasper is frozen at the sight of so many girls, especially the one he falls for, the one with the big violin between her knees. Presumably cello isn't yet in schoolboy Jasper's vocabulary.
We go to America, to New Hampshire where, in an effort to improve his performance, Jasper enrols in a Summer Horn Camp led by some world class horn players. There is Herman Baumann, the greatest German horn player since the war, with his idiosyncratic way of teaching music which involves singing while grasping his genitalia and this is what his pupils are instructed to do too. It is delightfully absurd, but at the end of the camp concert all this comes together as Herman's playing is exquisite.
As the time nears for his solo, Jasper has huge doubts as to the wisdom of asking to perform. He describes the symptoms — dry mouth, heart pounding — as he has a conversation with his "inner critic.".
The show is packed with commentary on Mozart and horn playing and Jonathan Guy Lewis' performance keeps us involved with wit and charm as he talks about the power of music to inspire and comfort. I Found My Horn is one of those feel good pieces which looks at the triumph of the human spirit.
On November 19th and 28th, the audience are invited to turn up at Hampstead Theatre with their abandoned woodwind or brass instrument for an after show workshop with Jonathan Guy Lewis and Jasper Rees.
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| I Found My Horn
Written by Jonathan Guy Lewis and Jasper Rees Based on the book by Jasper Rees Directed by Harry Burton Starring: Jonathan Guy Lewis Lighting: Jeremy Coney Sound: Daniel Thomason Running time: 75 minutes with no interval Box Office: 020 7722 9301 Booking to 28th November 2009 Reviewed by Lizzie Loveridge based on 11th November 2009 performance at Hampstead Theatre, Eton Avenue, London NW3 (Tube: Swiss Cottage) |
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