Suzan Hanson | " A sensational Soprano in a class by herself."

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La Voix Humaine

Suzan Hanson in the role of The Woman makes her first appearance on-stage in a silk nightgown that floats across the floor of a dark foyer as she sobs and rubs the sleep out of her eyes, calling for an unnamed “darling.” With one glass of whiskey poured, The Woman finds herself in a staring contest with a silent telephone. The phone finally rings and although the audience never does hear the voice of this unnamed “darling,” it soon becomes apparent that The Woman is spending a sleepless night waiting for a lover who never showed – a lover, who it is later revealed, has found new love elsewhere. The Woman holds onto a telephone call as though it were her last thread of life. As the call is repeatedly disconnected or interrupted, which the audience is led to believe is customary of telephone connections in this 1950s Paris backdrop, The Woman comes closer to the brink of self-destruction with leering thoughts of suicide. Hanson’s performance keeps viewers on the edge of their seat – will she do it? “La Voix Humaine” forces viewers to reflect on their own moments of digital heartache with Facebook pictures of a significant other with an unknown object of affection or a texted end to a relationship. As The Woman says, the telephone (or “this apparatus” as she calls it) can be a weapon in the hands of someone wanting to do harm to another. Though the corded “apparatus” is now obsolete, our connection to the human voice behind the cellphone, text or tweet is still a part of our collective conscience. The Woman personifies that connection and, in her case, dependence to that connection meets a bitter end. In what is essentially one very long monologue, Hanson demands the audience’s attention and in the case of at least one, she got it. It surely takes a captivating vocalist to hold the imagination and interest of an audience in a character with a limited emotional range from lucidly depressed to inconsolably tormented. Read more »