Thinking back on all the live performances I saw in 2006, I am a bit sad to say that all the show in my top3 were works from outside the u.s. not surprising, but still disheartening... what does that say? well let's not dwell on that...
the countdown for me would go like this:
#3: hedda gabler, schaubuhne am lehniner platz, directed by thomas ostermeier
This was the saving grace of the Next Wave festival at BAM (http://bam.org) for me -- I had the very bright idea of buying subscription tickets to a shitload of shows with a shitload of my friends, it was an organizational nightmare, and something i'll not do again... at least for the next 5 seasons. Anyway, this show was BEAUTIFULLY designed, and so smartly directed. this was the first production of ibsen's that really made sense to me in a contemporary context. i did fall asleep in the first half, but that's just the way my life has been... i appreciated the production for NOT dumbing down the characters, and allowing them to have complex interactions -- yet remaining advocates of ibsen's original scipt. the beach boys soundtrack was revealing and worked well, not cutesy.
#2: back to the present, constanza macras / dorky park
Irwin took me to see this because his friend kevin slavin did the video for it (the choreographer is kevin's ex) ok nevermind the complicated relationships... (too much) this was a dance piece (also from GERMANY, as #3) at DTW (http://dtw.org) with lots of theatrical elements, karaoke singing to bon jovi, elvis costello, violent lovers fight with lots of thrown chairs, wrestling choreography with mounds of stuffed animals, bizarre orchestra vignettes and video following each perfomer's personal nightmare. what's it like to be a young creative person living in the first world/europe? it didn't hook me til the second act -- at first i thought it was just kitschy and too-cool-for-williamsburg. but somehow it managed to be much more revelatory and personal in the second half. it reminded me a lot of what the international wow company was trying to do (at least in my mind) in the early days (1997-2001), full of love, raw, vulnerable, edgy, a la mode, punk rock, young love and lots of sweat and more love...
and...
#1: rehearsal hamlet, cia dos atores
It's been almost a year since I saw this show.... three times!!! lisa hori was visiting me at the time. at the public theater, but not really the public (I mean, come on, does the public do anything really interesting, ever?) the under the radar festival (thanks mark russell -- for 2007 line-up: http://www.publictheater.org/UTR/shows.php). A troupe from Brazil (http://www.ciadosatores.com.br/home_fr.html). BRILLIANT exploration of Hamlet. so inventive and fun and smart and moving... the company of about 6 or 7 actors, flitting in and out of different characters, on an essentially bare stage with simple props (clip lamps, shower caps, mics, suitcases, boombox, vase of sand, video camera). Images to remember: Rosenkrantz & Guildenstern as the red and blue power rangers entering to the theme song of pacman; Gertrude trying to dress Hamlet in clothes way too small; the actor (male) playing laertes and polonius and ophelia all together; "agua agua agua" song for the drowning of ophelia, laertes's eulogy to ophelia as he takes a hot iron to a raw steak... and proof this is a small world, i kept running into the director enrique diaz all over town that week, it became embarrassing. but it turns out that he went to saratoga (for the siti thing) with ravi jain several years ago -- which is why half the siti company were in the audience on closing night, and that was rather obnoxious because enrique gave a post-show shoutout to them -- i mean, ok, whatevs, man, the siti folks are cool and all, but what those brazilians made was far more interesting and emotional and shocking than anything i've seen by siti. sorry, just my humble opinion. hope the brazilians make their way back, or maybe i should head down there... capoeira anyone?
the countdown for me would go like this:
#3: hedda gabler, schaubuhne am lehniner platz, directed by thomas ostermeier
This was the saving grace of the Next Wave festival at BAM (http://bam.org) for me -- I had the very bright idea of buying subscription tickets to a shitload of shows with a shitload of my friends, it was an organizational nightmare, and something i'll not do again... at least for the next 5 seasons. Anyway, this show was BEAUTIFULLY designed, and so smartly directed. this was the first production of ibsen's that really made sense to me in a contemporary context. i did fall asleep in the first half, but that's just the way my life has been... i appreciated the production for NOT dumbing down the characters, and allowing them to have complex interactions -- yet remaining advocates of ibsen's original scipt. the beach boys soundtrack was revealing and worked well, not cutesy.
#2: back to the present, constanza macras / dorky parkIrwin took me to see this because his friend kevin slavin did the video for it (the choreographer is kevin's ex) ok nevermind the complicated relationships... (too much) this was a dance piece (also from GERMANY, as #3) at DTW (http://dtw.org) with lots of theatrical elements, karaoke singing to bon jovi, elvis costello, violent lovers fight with lots of thrown chairs, wrestling choreography with mounds of stuffed animals, bizarre orchestra vignettes and video following each perfomer's personal nightmare. what's it like to be a young creative person living in the first world/europe? it didn't hook me til the second act -- at first i thought it was just kitschy and too-cool-for-williamsburg. but somehow it managed to be much more revelatory and personal in the second half. it reminded me a lot of what the international wow company was trying to do (at least in my mind) in the early days (1997-2001), full of love, raw, vulnerable, edgy, a la mode, punk rock, young love and lots of sweat and more love...
and...
#1: rehearsal hamlet, cia dos atores
It's been almost a year since I saw this show.... three times!!! lisa hori was visiting me at the time. at the public theater, but not really the public (I mean, come on, does the public do anything really interesting, ever?) the under the radar festival (thanks mark russell -- for 2007 line-up: http://www.publictheater.org/UTR/shows.php). A troupe from Brazil (http://www.ciadosatores.com.br/home_fr.html). BRILLIANT exploration of Hamlet. so inventive and fun and smart and moving... the company of about 6 or 7 actors, flitting in and out of different characters, on an essentially bare stage with simple props (clip lamps, shower caps, mics, suitcases, boombox, vase of sand, video camera). Images to remember: Rosenkrantz & Guildenstern as the red and blue power rangers entering to the theme song of pacman; Gertrude trying to dress Hamlet in clothes way too small; the actor (male) playing laertes and polonius and ophelia all together; "agua agua agua" song for the drowning of ophelia, laertes's eulogy to ophelia as he takes a hot iron to a raw steak... and proof this is a small world, i kept running into the director enrique diaz all over town that week, it became embarrassing. but it turns out that he went to saratoga (for the siti thing) with ravi jain several years ago -- which is why half the siti company were in the audience on closing night, and that was rather obnoxious because enrique gave a post-show shoutout to them -- i mean, ok, whatevs, man, the siti folks are cool and all, but what those brazilians made was far more interesting and emotional and shocking than anything i've seen by siti. sorry, just my humble opinion. hope the brazilians make their way back, or maybe i should head down there... capoeira anyone?
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