A pain in the past
There’s one song called I Hate Sex. It’s sung by the lesbian character, Heinz Schweers says. He’s the creator of The Curious Pain Of Louis XIV, a new musical exploring the love triangle of one of France’s last monarchs.
The play is about opportunism and what you sacrifice to get what you want, so we have a character who was rumoured to be a lesbian who gives up her desires in order to get the power of being the king’s wife.
Louis XIV might not be as renowned as Louis XVI, whose execution brought about the French republic, but during his 72-year reign the country increased in influence not only culturally but also militarily, with the king sanctioning wars in Europe and America.
Schweers’s play, however, concentrates on Louis’ private life, torn between his beautiful and charming mistress, Ath?? and the rather plain, religious and allegedly gay woman, Maintenon.
The question is why, Schweers says.
But the pangs of love are not the only pains surrounding King Louis. In fact, a problem in the derriere not only forces this fearsome colonial ruler to reassess his private life but also rather slows down his ambitions for empire.
He couldn’t sit on his bum any more, Schweers says, and because of this, Louis said at one point, -˜The rest of the world is left in peace at this time.’
This pain in the arse is a symbol of the growing discomfort of his life. Everything pivots around Louis’ bottom.
No stranger to the stage, Schweers has many a queer-themed production on his r?m?/p>
He was musical director for the recent Tango Masculino production and was behind Noel And Cole: Lives In Exile, a cabaret performance illustrating how Noel Coward and Cole Porter at once hid and laid clues about their homosexuality in their work.
The busy Schweers is also musical director at Pacific Opera, which is bringing Mozart and Rossini to the Independent Theatre on 22 April.
An Andrew Lloyd Webber veteran, Schweers is keen to learn from his past experiences: I was a conductor on Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and it almost did my head in. I found it very unstimulating.
I don’t like musicals where the text is presented in a really prosaic way with music, so you might get -˜oh we must go because time is running out’ -“ that leaves me cold. Music is there to reflect heightened emotions, not drive the plot forwards. You’ve got to be careful not to make it naff.
Naff is something Schweers will be hoping to avoid in this, his first production where the text, music and lyrics are entirely his own.
Instead, he hopes The Curious Pain Of Louis XIV will be raunchy and sexy and reminiscent of darker German cabaret forms.
It’s a fantasy world for me. It’s an escapist piece and I think escape is undervalued in the 21st century.
The Curious Pain Of Louis XIV is showing from 17 to 21 April at the Seymour Centre Downstairs, University of Sydney. Bookings at Seymour Centre box office on 9351 7940.
