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March 15, 1998
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Saturday nightMA & PA (multimedia art and performance art) at the Perishable Theater Alphabets for the Melancholy: A Play for Language on a Sinking Ship by Che' leMomo takes place on a stylized sinking ship. But just where he, and the people on that ship, are headed is up for grabs.The three sailors, dressed in bright white, are given to chanting: "Nowhere to come from. Nowhere to go", or "Say goodbye to rite and reason" when they're not constantly asking "Is this the night?" They are definitely melancholy. So is the captain, who is chasing dawn, or life, or death, or gold or something. Dawn keeps saying: "You are leaving 'Y'. You are commencing 'Z'." Is this the night they run out of letters? Couldn't they pick some up off the floor where Dawn scattered them at the beginning? The floor is littered with letters. One of the sailors pulls a dead fish out of his pants for a ritual sacrifice and wraps it in alphabet paper from one of the books each sailor was given by Dawn at the beginning when they awoke. I guess the smell of dead fish is what makes this performance art. Either that or the fact that the captain looked like he was either pre- or post-orgasmic at any given time. Needless to say, I did not understand this piece at all.
11 Degrees of Evan O'Television by Evan O'Television The piece opens with a TV set on a table, and a small stool. First we see Evan on TV trying to interact with the live audience, who, of course he cannot see or hear. Then the live Evan comes onstage. The Evan on the TV interacts with Evan, live. The two Evans banter back and forth as they play havoc with time and space organized loosely around the game of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon. Past , present , live, prerecorded - and very very engaging and funny. I couldn't stop laughing. The live Evan's timing in interacting with the prerecorded Evan was perfect. There was a real chemistry between Evans. I never knew watching a guy talk to himself could be so much fun! Flow by Heather Henson In contrast to the first two pieces, this one has no words. It's all movement as Henson and two other performers create the world where earth and sea meet. There are animated images of birds and fish, and the light and shadow of water reflected on the walls. The set and the props/puppets are made of found materials - shells, reeds, sticks, driftwood. You can feel the wind moving through marsh grasses and reeds. The central "character" is a crane puppet, inhabited by two performers. I say inhabited because the performers become part of the puppet as they assemble the reed wings and legs with the shell body and driftwood head. The performers (dancers?) are dressed in beige-ish outfits that blend in with the natural colors of the reeds. This piece was the reason I came. I had seen Heather perform an earlier version of Flow at the Coastal Aesthetics Summer School in Newport in August. It was good then and it's even better now. SundayBrunch at Rue de l'Espoir with Nancy, a flat tire on the way into a gas station in East Providence, bird seeking at the cove, early and slow trip home on the dinky spare tire. Both the brunch and the birding were excellent, and the kid at the gas station changed the tire for me for nothing after he filled my tank. The birds: 28 lesser scaup The 28 lesser scaup were new to the cove, stopping by on their northward migration. This is the first time I've seen any number of them - I once saw a lone scaup that Nancy and I argued over the identity of. Less domed-more domed sort of like tastes great-less filling. Anyway, these were definitely lesser scaup and there were a lot of them. I was surprised to see the common black-headed gull in breeding plumage already. According to my trusty notebook , last year I didn't notice the black hood until May. But that could be because I didn't do very many observations in March and April - however, my March 28 notes from last year make no mention of it. Doesn't mean it wasn't already changed, just that I didn't see it. The male common goldeneye was doing this neck arching display - touching the back of his head to his back - quite athletic! And what's with the lone female hooded merganser? She seems to be hanging out with the mallards. Not another species-disphoric bird like Igor, I hope! | |
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