Getting Ahead: On Emma Cline’s ‘The Guest’
At the 2019 Venice Biennale, the opera Sun & Sea (Marina) turned the Lithuanian Pavilion into a bright, hot artificial beach. Directed by Rugilė Barzdžiukaitė, written by Vaiva Grainytė, and composed by Lina Lapelytė, Sun & Sea (Marina) won that year’s Golden Lion, the Biennale’s top prize, and has since traveled the world, with presentations in Europe, North America, and parts of the Middle East. In the opera, swimsuit-clad vacationers lounge and writhe on towels and in beach chairs. The light-flooded performance space blanches the tableau into a comically exaggerated postcard picture: the swimsuits are overwhelmingly pastel, the beach towels milky white. Viewers look down at the performers, as if observing strange specimens in a vitrine, from a mezzanine, a position of moral superiority. A character named Wealthy Mommy sings:
What a relief that the Great Barrier Reef has a restaurant and hotel! We sat down to sip our piña coladas— included in the price! They taste better under the water, Simply a paradise!
