An exceptionally creative set design is on display at the Abrons Art Center. Entering the theater for TILT, a large wooden pinball machine has been built. A multi-piece, theater length wooden track zigzags overhead. At the start of this show, a ball will travel on that track high above the audience, making its way to the machine. The ball return!
The program notes that a typical pinball game gives the player three balls. In Cervantes’ Don Quixote, the hero goes on three “sallies” or journeys from home. Tilt uses that framework to present what it calls “a visceral experience of a delusional brain.”
A pair of legs appears to be playing the pinball machine. We only see the bottom half of a person tap dancing. A side cabinet opens and piles of wood fall out. Wood is the medium by which this story will be told. Fans of woodworking and puzzles will be enchanted by the creative combinations assembled. Naturally you expect a windmill. How and when will it come together?
The bells and dings make you feel like you are inside a pinball machine. I saw images that suggested bumpers and flippers. Movement is always swirling and spinning to put the wooden components together artistically. Music underscores the dance-like performance. By the time the third part (third ball, third sally) occurs, you can understand use of the term “multiball.”
As a show, TILT feels too long and is very slow moving. The pacing appears to be deliberate though. Sometimes the assemblage takes more time than is advisable to hold our interest. It starts to feel repetitive. More tapping, more spinning and more music with a feeling of a storyline lightly threading through.
The creation of this show and its delightful set and props must have been great fun. Leaving the theater, we remarked that we would love to see a play or musical performed using this memorable aesthetic. This level of creativity certainly deserves a “high score.”