Tag: Performance

Based on a recommendation, I went to see Nanette, written and performed by Hannah Gadsby.  Advertised as an award winner at the Edinburgh Fringe and Melbourne International Comedy Festivals, I expected to laugh.  And I did.  Cursive letters are like friends holding hands.  Ms. Gadsby’s Tasmanian family tree isn’t really branches reaching out, it’s more inbred and resembles a topiary at the top.  Her mother equates the shock of hearing that Hannah is a lesbian to telling her that she is a murderer.

Nanette of the title is a barista shaped like a thumb in an apron.  Presumably there was some sort of relationship there but it’s not really explored much further.  There are laughs on order here.  Like many great comedians, Ms. Gadsby knows how to wring humor from discomfort.  What makes Nanette so much more than a comic monologue is the willingness to pause from the funny and take us down to a much darker, more intimate place.  She is very angry and we learn why.  The segment on art history will forever change how I look at a Picasso.

No more needs to be said.  Nanette is running until April 15th for those with the time and inclination to see something unique, memorable, hilarious and devastating.  If you cannot attend this run, a performance in Sydney has been taped for Netflix.  Nanette is another show perfectly suited for the time in which we live.  Ms. Gadsby claims this is her last show.  Let’s hope not.

www.sohoplayhouse.com

The Tank is a non-profit arts presenter that serves emerging artists pursuing new ideas and expressions.  Across many disciplines, including theater, comedy, dance, film, music, public affairs, and storytelling, annually they serve over 1,000 artists in more than 400 performances.  Their stated goal is to foster an environment of inclusiveness and remove the burden of cost from the creation of new work for those launching their careers and experimenting within their art form.

Wood Calls Out to Wood is an adaptation of one of my favorite paintings, Hieronymus Bosch’s 15th century triptych “The Garden of Earthly Delights.”  A art piece with religious symbolism, the left and right panels represent Eden and hell.  The larger center panel is the garden of the title, as humanity acts with apparent free will where naked men and women engage in various pleasure seeking activities.  The painting is awesome in its details and mind-blowing in its imagery.

This theatrical piece focuses on the garden.  Then, when taking a closer look, Boschian beings begin to emerge.  Two horses in a neigh-scent relationship.  A vacant treehouse in need of a tenant.  A human with a grape for a head.  Through dialogue and sound, the audience experiences these images and characters selected from the painting.  I particularly enjoyed Connor James Sheridan as Grapehead and Will Dagger as the Horse.  However, the show is very meta, a little too much so for my taste.  An interesting experiment, Wood Calls Out to Wood is a fine diversion.

www.thetanknyc.org

Alaska was the winner of the second Ru Paul’s All Star Drag Race.  If you don’t know what that is, “regular” theater reviews will return later this week.  As stated in this show, Jeremy is not only her accompanist on the piano but also friend for fourteen years.  This performance was an homage to all things Golden Girls.  Alaska asked, “How many people here have seen every episode of the Golden Girls at least twice?”  A show of hands.  The answer was five.  Everyone else got an apology.

All the girls – Sofia, Blanche, Rose and Dorothy – were spotlighted in drag, naturally, lovingly skewered with musical numbers and an abundance of comedy.  There were trivia questions and sing-a-longs during the costume changes, aka cosmic channelings.  The one hour plus act was hilarious (even heartfelt during the Rose segment) and over the top entertaining.  This is the second Alaska show I’ve seen, the first being Cher and Cher Alike, which, unless you are truly under a rock, you can guess the plotline.  Two for two.  That’s a star.

www.spincycle.com

Dixon Place describes itself as an artistic incubator which supports artists by producing original works of theater, dance, music, puppetry, circus arts, literature and visual art at all stages of development.  I head downtown once or twice a year to see what’s on.  The last time I went, the infamous play Sex by Mae West was excerpted and performed by women who, for various reasons, had been actual sex workers.  After the performance, they took questions and had candid conversations about their lives, the historical significance of that play and women’s rights.  Not for everyone but definitely made for thoughtful conversation afterward.

Last night’s less serious offering was Lucky by the Atlas Circus Company, a troupe formed by former students at Muhlenberg College.  We follow Lucky as he travels to the big city and stumbles, trips and falls from one misadventure to the next, told through slapstick and circus skills.  Lucky is best described as a combination of mime, Three Stooges tomfoolery, athleticism and magic tricks.  As such, the four artists present an old style of eccentric clowning with no real words spoken (but sounds) and musical accompaniment (piano, recorded music).  Think stolen briefcase hijinks and you will get the picture.  Two performers had inspired bits throughout while the other two didn’t really have enough to do, despite some hilarious physicality.  In Lucky, Atlas Circus is combining circus with a theatrical narrative.  A nice diversion at downtown prices.

www.dixonplace.org