Friday February 16, 2007 SGN.org |
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Volume 35 Issue 07 |
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Sunday, Oct 12, 2008
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Clockwork Orange: Remixed Rocks! |
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| Clockwork Orange: Remixed Rocks! | ||
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Open Circle Theater brings their playful postmodern version to the stage by Jacob Clark - SGN A&E Writer We live in dangerous times. We're saddled with an Administration in D.C. that seems to take its inspiration from a Nazi playbook: pre-emptive war; "shock and awe" blitzkriegs; propaganda in the guise of network news; disregard for human rights, constitutional freedoms and international law. A newly elected Congress is so cowered by the propaganda, that even non-binding statements against escalation of the pre-emptive war are doomed in the Senate before they are debated. And things are no better in state governments where Gay rights are curtailed by pre-emptive bans against Gay marriage. Against this background of despair, Open Circle Theater Company is offering an evening of playful Postmodernism in their A Clockwork Orange: Remixed. You don't have to be a fan of Stanley Kubrick's 1971 film, or Anthony Burgess' 1962 book to find enjoyment in this exploratory performance piece. Postmodernism is best understood through architecture. The Bauhasian ideal that form follows function became a rigid taskmaster, resulting in uninspiring twentieth century steel and glass towers. The architects of the postmodern revolt declared that "Less is More" had become "Less is a Bore." Deliberate decoration, inspired by the whole history of architecture, began to appear on the towers of the 1980's and continue to this day. At its best postmodern architecture is playful and fun. In the theatre, the spare, ultra-modern language of Samuel Beckett, Harold Pinter and David Mamet is the Modernist culprit. Poetry and classical reference are mainstays of the Postmodern theatre, as are decorative elements, which can exist separately from, or in opposition to the performance. Like postmodern architects, postmodern theatre practitioners don't take themselves too seriously and offer a lot of self-effacing humor. If you're looking for a humorless deconstruction of the film, you will be disappointed, as only the first movement of this hour-and-twenty-minute "word-symphony" resembles 1980's style deconstruction. This first movement takes images from the film and projects them on scrims which separate the actors from the audience. Sound bytes from the film are repeated by the actors behind the scrims without context or feeling. The actors wear all-white costumes, like the "droogs" or gang members in the movie, as they goose-step and move about the stage with military rhythms. This portion of the piece represents the adaptation of the 1971 film for a 2007 audience. The unit set is brilliantly white, and under certain lights the costumes blend with the set, so that only the actors' faces offer any relief from white on white tyranny. At one point, a performer feigning illness, declares, "Can I please have some color?" This second movement is all about interpretation. Interpretation by critics is the high point of the ridiculous and the natural resolution of this section. Finally, a resurrected Jesus appears to offer His commentary. With all His human traits intact, a hilarious portrait is created. This begins the final movement, which is hysterical. From campy choreography to gender ambiguity, the piece now functions as commentary on itself, harkening backwards to the earlier movements. Whether in the opening style of anti-acting or the emotional extravagance of the piece's conclusion, the concentrated performances of the entire ensemble amaze and delight the knowing audience. Deneice Bleha readily adopts a masculine silhouette in her portrayal of Jesus as celebrity, in one of the best gender-bending performances I have ever seen. Aaron Allshouse directs with Ron Sandahl, and plays the evening's D.J. for the remix with an attitude of bored anger, the kind of anger that is usually reserved for underpaid technicians, adding another level of humor to the entire evening. Allshouse and Sandahl have given the piece a smart pace that uses the set perfectly. The anti-fascist theme, the gender bending and Emma Hasset's deft choreography make this piece especially accessible to the LGBT community. Make your reservations now, it closes on February 24. For tickets and information, call 206-382-4250. |
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