Presented in cooperation with Other Minds

The Harry Partch Foundation has given us a very rare opportunity to see the original 16mm film of maverick composer Harry Partch’s most accomplished masterpiece. Delusion of the Fury: A Ritual Dream and Delusion enacts two interlocking fables, one Japanese and one African. It was written for six actors, four singers and a large ensemble of Partch’s own handmade instruments, and premiered in January 1969 at UCLA. The piece is one of the best examples of Partch’s concept of “corporeality,” or “total theater,” integrating music, dance, stagecraft and ritual. Directed by Madeline Tourtelot and edited by Les Blank, the film version further incorporates this idea, with the camera itself moving among the mimes and musicians on stage. (Konrad Steiner)