In Act II Anna’s dreaming becomes surrealer, as earlier voices call out her name, at first in whispers; part-improvised strands of music and text – sometimes lucid, sometimes shadowy – return in an extended rhapsody on Sleepers, wake! and climax in a “cut-to-train-arriving-at-platform” moment. At the first stroke of midnight everything freezes for an instant and then continues but gradually slowing into a final peroration, with each bell-stroke fainter and more delayed than the last. The twelfth stroke never arrives ...
A.R.E.M.
ACT II
Sleepers, wake!
Anna: “This is a security announcement: please
leave luggage unattended at all times; personal belongings will be disposed of by your station-manager, Alan.”
Anna: “Some tickets are more valid than others
and may be purchased free yesterday.”
Anna: “Here is the train; please finish your journey!”
Anna: Hello? Hello? What do you mean?
What! open? Hello? Hello?
Hello? Yes, oh...
Hi, yes, sorry, rather
Flustered, you know terrible day
At work the traffic was awful, it’s raining and the front door’s sticking again,...
sticking again,
I know
that it’s late,
I’m always home
late.
But
It’s half
Past e-
Le-ven - everything’s...
I
Haven’t
Slept for...
[Seven months.]
These Waking Sounds ...
These waking sounds will not end with the final beat.
These waking sounds will not end with the final beat.
These waking sounds will not end with the final beat.
[applause]
from
KNOWN UNKNOWN [EP]: Anna's Rapid Eye Movement,
released January 7, 2022
starring Anna Fraser as Anna (*pp.12,14,16,18,20,24,25,28,34,35)
Alexandria Siegers as Sophie the Neighbour (*pp.18,25,26,35)
Robert Macfarlane as Lee the Banker (*pp.18,20,22,25,28,35)
Andrew O’Connor as Bill the Travel Agent (*pp.14,18,25,35)
Antony Pitts Conductor (*pp.25,30,35)
recorded live as part of the Dreamers of the Day tour to Sydney Opera House,
The Street Theatre Canberra, The Independent Theatre North Sydney, and Wollongong Art Gallery
Susannah Lawergren | Juliet Allan | Nyssa Milligan | Natalie Shea | Geraldine Mynors
Richard Black | John Byron | Mark Donnelly | Stephen Maddock The Faraway Chorus
Jonathan Thorpe Drums & Percussion
John Drinkwater Digital Programming
Antony Pitts Four Pianos
Geoff Miles Recording Engineer & Studio Producer (UK)
Greg Ghavalas Recording Engineer (Australia)
recorded at the University of Surrey, Guildford; and at Fine Music and Golden Radio, Sydney
Volkmar Zander Photograph: Anna’s Rapid Eye Movement (cover, p.10)
Yolanda Koning Design: Imagin’d Corners – ‘The Map of Everything’ (cover, pp.4–5,14,16,36)
Peter Hislop *Concert Photography as reimagined in A.R.E.M. (pp.12–35)