Cosima – Viking Theatre – Review
by Frank L.

Cosima – Written by Sheena Lambert
Viking Theatre – Dates: 2nd – 14th of December

Francesca Gaetana Cosima Wagner (née Liszt) or simply Cosima (Mary Murray) was the second daughter of Franz Liszt, the great concert pianist and composer who was born on Christmas Eve 1837. She was married at twenty years of age to Hans von Bulow, a well-known conductor and composer but the marriage failed and they divorced. Later in 1870, she married composer Richard Wagner. She was instrumental in the creation of the Bayreuth Festspielhaus, an annual musical festival which continues to this day. After Wagner died in 1883, it was her forceful personality and business acuity that helped to ensure that the Wagner Brand became and remains such a powerful force in the world of music and musical theatre. The play concentrates on her life up to the death of Richard Wagner and its immediate aftermath concerning Bayreuth.

It starts with Cosima, in full mourning, with a scrapbook reliving moments of her past. She uses her voice in an unlikely way. It is a startling beginning. Cosima is from the beginning confident and determined. She never underestimates her abilities. Her father being absent for most of her childhood comes in for particular scorn. Murray, to traverse the years of childhood to the time when Wagner dies, uses a series of hair pieces to signify her growing maturity. Murray skilfully executes these various changes and it works dramatically.

The themes that run throughout the performance are her veneration and adoration of Wagner and her scorn for her father, Franz Liszt and Hans von Bulow. She was very clear-sighted and single-minded. Amongst the aspects of her personality which are not examined are her maternal attributes concerning her five children and no mention is made of her virulent anti-Semitism.

However, this is a piece of theatre and Mary Murray brings to life a woman who was a fine pianist herself and who became a unique force in musical theatre as she promoted and protected the legacy of Richard Wagner. This is not the full story of her life but an important part of it. It proclaims loudly and elegantly that Cosima Wagner was an indomitable force to be reckoned with. No mean feat for a woman considering society at the time of her birth. It makes for a gripping seventy minutes of theatre.

Written by Sheena Lambert
Performed by Mary Murray
Directed by Rex Ryan