June 25th, 2015
Ok, so today was pretty nuts. Its started with a massive breakfast of cappuccino, croissants, eggs, sausages, bacon, cheese, cold cuts and yogurt at Café Café. Then I helped my friend Pegi do some last minute shopping for her performance installation about making lemonade. As i waited for her show to start, I checked out some more student exhibits. Notable exhibits- I REALLY loved the costumes from Cyprus and Sweden. I also really loved the models from the Hungarian University of Fine Arts. Not all of the exhibits featuring models have been cool, but theirs were great. I was one of the first participants in Pegi’s show, and then ducked out to plan the rest of my day. I caught sight of Julie Taymor leaving the show right after me! EEEEeeeeee! Mere minutes before she was to do her huge PQ talk. So insane. Next: Off to watch Julie Taymor’s talk via live stream in a classroom at DAMU. Lisi had reserved a spot in the talk, so when the live feed clicked on, Im sitting there watching Julie and Lisi, who is in the second or third row…. and one block away. Then Julie Taymor refers to Pegi’s performance during her talk. She described a French teacher of hers at Lecoq- who had a face like she was sucking lemons-“like that show over there”. I almost screamed. Im not very star-struck in general, but that was just too many layers of overlapping reality to manage. Besides having my friends right there, and watching one of the greatest american scenographers of our time talk to my people, about my medium…. besides that its WHAT she had to say that was the coolest ever. She is a great storyteller, and she really shared with us her process, what she cares about, why its hard, and why she loves it sooooo much. She took us through her unconventional training and life, and talked about reducing visual metaphors to “idiographs” to help tell stories in simple, yet evocative ways (but not too simple). Theater is capable of abstraction and poetry in ways that film is not. High and low, sacred and profane. Don’t give the people what they want, take them on a journey and don’t be afraid to make that journey unexpected and difficult. She also stands by her work, ALL OF IT. She talked about Spiderman, and how the most successful things in that show were the simplest and most theatrical. She suggested that the failure of that show was less catastrophic because she felt that she had been true to herself and her aesthetic while making it. The woman has massive balls. Lisi and I were just kinda high on that for the rest of the night. We went across town to see SCLAVI… and there was Julie, again. Just, ya know, seeing as much theater as she can, drinking coffee and hanging out with her young hip assistants. So then we head back to Old Town and grab an absinthe. Im pretty unimpressed with this drink. Between disliking the taste of licorice, and kinda thinking that elaborate rituals for drug-taking are kinda dumb… it feels heroin-esque, this whole melting the sugar thing… just kinda too romantic and nostalgic. I’ve been SUPER hating anything that smacks of nostalgia lately. Not sure what thats about. Ok! Thats pretty much it. Tomorrow is my last day, and its gonna be pretty laid back. Rock!
Performance Notes: Making Lemonade by Pegi Marshall
The Performance Kitchen at Bethlehem Chapel Gallery has been an amazing resource, installation, and backdrop for interactive food related performances during the PQ. Making Lemonade was perfectly situated there. The gallery has been converted into a dream pantry, complete with every cooking utensil you could imagine. Huge piles of fresh herbs, Warhol-like, fetishistic arrangements of fundamental baking ingredients, a fridge, multiple butcher blocks, and a long table that seats 30, and mysteriously appearing bowls filled with chopped vegetable come from out of nowhere.. A swedish (or Iclandic?) woman serves free coffee, and there is a live feed to a busy kitchen in Iceland. Pegi Marshall inhabits the smaller pantry, with her massive piles of lemons, gigantic butcher knives and tiny bohemian shot glasses at the ready. The first task: receive your lemon. You must grab it with your mouth, from hers. Biting down on the fruit gives you the first sour blast of flavor. You are then asked to use any utensil you can find to extract the juice. Pegi provides the sweetest of syrups to add to your lemon juice. The result is obviously delicious. A great reminder that home-made is always better, and that when a theater artist hands you lemons, not only should you made lemonade, but you should have lots of fun doing it.
Performance Notes: SCLAVI: The Song of an Emigrant by Farm in the Cave
SCLAVI is a piece, I am told, that has been kicking around for many years. Its done the European circuit, and its clear why. Its offers its virtuosic pain and suffering from actors with incredible vocal and movement training. Live music in the form of heart-stopping drums and heart-breaking glass harps. The physical life of the show revolves around a large metal gypsy caravan. Not the romantic object you would imagine though. This one is more evocative of a uhaul trailer or a semi. There was a language barrier for me, not knowing any Czech, but it was not hard to get the gist. This Roma-esque band of travelers are having a really rough time on the road. They are fiercely proud, yet completely stymied by their culture and traditions. They hate being set apart, but fear anything different. Sticking together like a family is taking its toll. The women seem to run the tribe, yet the men still have all the status. Romantic rivalries flair up and we get to witness the romance and violence that ensues. The use of the caravan was pretty great- the thing does 360 turns and comes off its wheels. Its used as a drum and a jungle gym. It allows the performers to show us a variety of tableaus as it spins. Lisi saw it many years back and said that its lost some of its freshness. The show has so much vitality still, but I can totally see what she means- some of the scenes lack the urgency and electricity that a fresh show has. I am SUPER glad i saw it though. Another thing i wish all my friends could see.