Why does John Greyson want to sing about AIDS?

On Februay 4th John Greyson chaired a discussion at The Powerplant on video art and AIDS activism. I missed this talk. But, this week I was granted a second chance and had the unique opportunity to attend a colloquium on Greyson’s research for his MA thesis. This thesis consists of a 90 minute video-opera, entitled “The Queen’s Sore Throat or Why do we sing about AIDS?,” accompanied by a framing text. This work engages and extends many of the themes Greyson is best known for, including issues such as the social perception of AIDS, gay rights, and how to be an activist.

“The Queen’s Sore throat” is part opera and part documentary—it sings the life stories of AIDS activists Zackie Achmat and Tim McCaskell—but its main interest lies in exploring polyphony, collectivity and resistance. These issues are addressed through an exploration of the operatic form, particularly through playing with opera’s usual insistence on the soloist and its reputation as “la forme fatale.”

Greyson introduces polyphony in a number of ways. This piece is structured around the dialogic possibilities of an operatic voice encountering a documentary voice encountering various biographies of figures within AIDS activism. All while referencing Four Saints in Three Acts—and, I can imagine, much more that this when the video-opera takes its final form. In addition, this is an opera that moves away from solos and arias and instead looks to choral forms to convey its libretto. Multiple voices abound.

Grayson then uses opera’s morbidity (think of any of Maria Callas’ heroines) to critique the unstable position of the martyr within AIDS discourse. He argues that his video-opera is a transgressive subversion of both the operatic and documentary forms, put in service of a political and aesthetic refusal of martyrdom.

While Greyson was only able to show a few work-in-progress clips that speak to this position, it was the “Motet For Four Voices” that seemed to best articulate his multiple concerns—and therefore offer a good sense of direction for the finial piece.

In this piece the lives and stories of Nkosi Johnson, Gugu Dlamini, Simon Nkoli and Christopher Moraka are staged as a coda to the lives of Achmat and McKaskell. In this brief section Grayson is able to communicate each activists’ “principaled refusal to be a martyr” while making an argument for collectivity and resistance.

Visually, this section is quite stunning. The screen is divided into four sections, with actors portraying the four activists seen from the neck up. These heads are positioned above record players and they spin around like records as each actor sings. On each actors neck is a tattooed musical staff showing the notation for the motet. Below the record players words selected from each biography appear, punctuating the libretto. In this brief section Greyson is able pack in references to the classical notion of the martyr as one who witnesses or give testimony, to the importance of registering/recording polyphonous history to any activist work and to the need to reject the sentimentality that characterizes some popular notions of living with AIDS (think Tom Hanks in Philadelphia)—just to name a few.

Greyson says that his aim with is piece is to turn both operatic and documentary forms inside out. If the final form of “The Queen’s Sore Throat” can achieve even half of what the Motet does, Greyson will certainly reach this aim. I look forward to one day seeing the final version of this piece.