Alex Sudheim
In 1769, at the tender age of 12, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart composed his first German operetta, Bastien and Bastienne. Although the music is light and fanciful, Mozart’s librettists based their apparently ingenuous tale of pastoral romance on some rather subversive material.
FW Weisskern, JH Muller and JA Schachtner retooled the plot of an Italian parody to create this disarmingly simple tale of ill-fated love. Bastienne is the shepherdess in love with Bastien the shepherd, yet the latter is seduced by the glitz and glamour of the lady of the manor, who tempts him with material wealth.
He soon realises his folly and returns to Bastienne, who is by now playing cruelly hard-to-get on the advice of the village’s resident sage and magician, Colas. All ends well, however, and the two sheep-tenders re- discover their transcendent love.
Critics see this element, of the lady of the manor’s material charms being bested by rustic loyalty, as a subtle indictment of the callow superficiality of the monarchy and aristocracy. Instead of being dazzled by the lady’s jewels, Bastien ”returns to nature” in the form of his beloved Bastienne.
This operetta is running at the KwaSuka Theatre in Durban, where puppet-master Andrew Godbold has given his creations enough life to tell the story in captivating fashion.