The Angel & The Red Priest

'The Angel & The Red Priest' is a play about a composer, his muse, and the turbulence of the times which surround them. Written by Adelaide playwright Sean Riley, it is a fictional story based on the life of the Italian composer Vivaldi, and fleshed out in Riley's imagination into a tantalising glimpse into the 1700s. Vivaldi dies in 1741, a pauper, who genius was not recognised for many years.

In 60 minutes, and with a cast of four, Riley gives his version of the composer behind the music. After all, he considers, so little is known about the man that his version of the Vivaldi story is as valid as any other.

A few years ago playwright Riley had been in London, and a chance conversation with an old friend - one evening when they heard some Vivaldi being played on the radio - set his mind into gear. "We'd heard Vivaldi's Four Seasons and she'd said something about him [Vivaldi] using singers from an orphanage to perform his works as they were written. He was a priest, but an incredibly difficult man, and I began thinking about the idea for a script. I'd been to Venice and seen some of the places Vivaldi had lived and worked..." Back in Australia Riley began pitching the idea, and before long found ABC Radio willing to commission a radio play.

"That was the start, and then I started looking around to take it to the stage. The Festival [Of The Arts] took a chance, so I ended up going back to the radio play and completely smashing it apart." This was around Christmas time, and Riley was deep into rewriting his work for the stage.

"Really, it was about what attracted me in the first place. If I could find that..."

Although this is action set in a time far removed from our understanding, Riley feels the story is one which resonates: "Find the heartbeat that you can comprehend," he says, leaning forward to make the point, sounding almost poetic in his assessment.

The part of Vivaldi himself is played by Adelaide actor Stephen Sheehan, a chameleon-like performer who can swerve from pathos to pitiable in the blink of an eye.

"I wrote it for him. Straight up. He's always first choice for me." As a statement of intent, Riley's endorsement of Sheehan's talents takes me by surprise somewhat; it's so rare for a playwright to give such a forceful endorsement.

"Stephen's great because he will sum up what the play's about.

"'The Angel & The Red Priest' is about hopes and dreams; it really does echo some simple contemporary universal themes in that respect, such as the idea of rising above your station. It's about Vivaldi and his muse!" he explains.

'The Angel & The Red Priest' is set in the early 1700s, a play about prodigious talent, about the people and their lives, and the effect such talent had upon their lives; but of the facts, Riley admits "I've been kind of a bit loose. If the facts don't suit you, you gotta get liberated."

Vivaldi, he says "... had red hair, a vile temper, and he wasn't made for the priesthood. Added to which, he died a pauper, and his true talent wasn't really unearthed until his reputation was resurrected in the early part of the twentieth century. This is a classic story!"

A classic story, which turns, obviously enough, not just on the performances of the actors, but upon musical expertise, since it features live music... "It's not incredibly musically heavy, but it is quite atmospheric... it gives a continuity to the rhythm, or the pulse of the play.

There's one aria which features at the highpoint of the action, sung by Johanna Allen. Riley confesses to goosebumps when he hears her sing, and had no trouble leaving the entire aria in the theatre show, even though he knew it to be a slight indulgence.

"We're just fine tuning it now, and it's been a bit of a luxury, to be honest," he laughs, and says it's 'all systems go'. "The musicians turn up next week, we slot 'em in and away we go." Under the tutelage of Gabriella Smart he foresees no major problems. "It's something a bit new for her, and she's been learning the harpsichord for a few months," he laughs.

Alex Wheaton

'The Angel & The Red Priest' performs in the Adelaide Centre For The Arts (Light Square) from Tues 26 Feb as part of the Festival Of The Arts