Nuncle Music

Consisting of monologues from beyond the grave by the Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich, this vivid psycho-drama explores the struggles of the artist under Soviet rule and seamlessly blends hindsight, guilt, and tricks of memory. Though the struggles of Soviet life—the terror, the deprivation, the disappeared—haunt each piece, a Shostakovian vitality, acerbic wit, and mischief are also present: Hamlet farts through a flute, Stalin plays the triangle, a sparrow defecates on a musical score, and the composer brags he can light a campfire with one match in the middle of a gale.