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A CurtainUp Review
Wooster Group's Poor Theatre
| Wooster Group's Poor Theater At It's New York Home
The subtitle, "A Series of Simulacra. Ouroboros", has been dropped from the title since Laura Hitchcock reviewed the piece in Los Angeles. The tagline refers to the production's being structured as a series of simulacra (a representation, an image, a specious imitation or likeness of something), with Grotowski's Akropolis, Ernst's Histoire Naturelle, and Forsythe's theories of improvisation explored through the Group's telekinetic aesthetic. Audiences here, as in Los Angeles, will be enthralled, puzzled or underwhelmed -- depending on their devotion to the company's distinctive, deconstructionist sensibility and their reaction to this particular offering. The production did not turn CurtainUp's Eric Beckson, a "Wooster virgin," into a fan. He found that many in the audience on the night he attended were also less than bowled over by what they experienced. Still, if you're a Wooster groupie, you won't want to miss Poor Theater. Laura Hitchcock's detailed review follows the production notes below. POOR THEATER Directed by Elizabeth LeCompte Artists and associates working on the project: Geoff Abbas, Ruud van den Akker, John Collins, Joby Emmons, J. Reid Farrington, Iver Findlay, Ari Fliakos, Sam Gold, Bozkurt Karasu, Ken Kobland, Christopher Kondek, Margaret Mann, Gabe Maxson, Sheena See, Scott Shepherd, Natalie Thomas, Jennifer Tipton, and Kate Valk. Set: Ruud van den Akker Light: Jennifer Tipton Sound: Geoff Abbas Additional Sound: John Collins Live Video Mix: J. Reid Farrington Documentary Videos: Ken Kobland Additional Video: J. Reid Farrington, Christopher Kondek Additional Set Pieces: Jim Findlay Movement Coach: Natalie Thomas Technical Assistant: Joby Emmons Polish Coach: Zenon Kruszelnicki Assistant Director/Dramaturg: Sam Gold Assistant Director/Stage Manager: Margaret Mann On Video: Jennifer Tipton as herself; Maria Shvetsova as a critic Running Time: 1 hr 30 mins, wih a 5-minute intermission Wooster Group, Performing Garage, 33 Wooster Street www.thewoostergroup.org SmartTix 212-868-4444 From 9/14/05 to 10/15/05; opening 9/23/05 Tuesdays through Sundays at 8pm. Tickets: $25 for Tuesday to Thursday and Sunday performances; $30 for Friday and Saturday performances. Open Seating |
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You're going to feel so informed! --- Scott Shepherd as William Forsythe, |
This writer recognized the mirroring technique the Group experienced in a workshop they led (and I took) at the University of California Berkeley 20-something years ago. In the workshop LeCompte stood behind me and we mirrored each other's movements while looking in a mirror.
In Poor Theatre, Part One, a tiny video plays Grotowski's production Acropolis while the four cast members mimic and interpret it in the foreground. The technicians sitting at the side of the stage operating sound and light are also on stage as depicted in two video screens much larger than the little one playing the source material. The audience is also represented by a middle-aged woman listening politely but uncomprehendingly in the foreground of the tiny Acropolis video.
Part One begins with a video of the group's initial reaction to the Acropolis video of as they mime the actors in their New York Performing Garage. We follow them on a visit to Grotowski's Theater Laboratorium in Poland. The Acropolis segment is first translated from Polish by Ari Fliakos for the group, then performed, principally by Fliakos as Troy's suffering King Priam and Kate Valk singing as the prophetess Cassandra.
Director LeCompte appears on video screen as a critic who asks actress Sheena See why Acropolis is being done in Polish. See doesn't answer directly but the final segment, which equates Max Ernst's obsession with rubbings of the grooves and grains of wood floors with the parquet floors in Grotowski's Polish studio, projects a beautiful universal answer to that small pragmatic question.
Part II is funnier and more physical but rather less successful in expressing tmodern dancer William Forsythe's work, perhaps because this really isnt a company of dancers. Although Scott Shepherd as Forsyth explains the director's conviction that conventional choreography is simply a channel for the desire to dance. Wwe're fortunate to catch glimpses of the expressive grace of the real William Forsythe in the videos that line the stage.
The two parts have one statement in common. Grotowski's Acropolis contains the line, "Suffering ate your face." The Forsythe segment uses a cowboy movie as a springboard for a dance entitled "I'm Gonna Shoot Your Face Off."
The Wooster Group's mandate is to dispense with façade, to strip theatre down to its quantum physics particles, to let the audience use artists' inspirations for its own construct. It is the passion and joy with which they fulfill this mandate that makes them unique.
LeCompte says she's going to retire and write a book. We'll read it but there's nothing like seeing it.
| Director: Elizabeth LeCompte Cast: Ari Fliakos, Sheena See, Scott Shepherd, Kate Valk Video: Iver Findlay, Ken Kobland, J. Reid Farrington Lighting: Jennifer Tipton, Gabe Maxson Sound: Geoff Abbas, John Collins Running Time: 90 minutes with one intermission Running Dates: September 22-26, 2004 Where: Roy and Edna Disney CalArts Theatre (REDCAT), Disney Hall, 631 W. 2nd St, Los Angeles Reviewed by Laura Hitchcock on September 24. |
Retold by Tina Packer of Shakespeare & Co. >Click image to buy.
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