PENELOPE TRAPPES
VENUE THE OLD CHURCH, LONDON DATE 17/04/2025
There can be few better ways to spend a Maundy Thursday than in the presence of Penelope Trappes in an old candlelit church in Stoke Newington.
It’s a fact not lost on the many gothicinclined parishioners who’ve packed this small but perfectly formed edifice to its transepts this evening. The Last Supper throws up themes of betrayal, sacrifice and communion that are pertinent to the performance, plus there’s the everominous shadow of death hanging intangibly in the nave. Death is unavoidable in Trappes’ world – or in any world; it’s just that in most cultures it’s not really talked about. An album called A Requiem, then, is never going to be light on the eternal sleep that awaits us, but perhaps what’s surprising is how beautiful and inviting she makes it all seem.