Punk Rock Theater

I remember it was last summer, after I'd gotten back from Manila madness and met the fabulous Turner Schofield at the TCG conference in Atlanta -- Turner was visiting New York around my birthday and we made plans to go see The Sewers but we fucked up the times and ended up not getting in, so we hung out on the Staten Island Ferry instead. I did manage to see The Sewers, although I couldn't rightly tell you what it was really about... except that it took place inside a beautifully designed set with gorgeous lighting by Peter Ksander. I THINK it had to do with some post-apocalyptic survivors who were living underground, led by this megalomaniac played by Jason Craig, but truly, I am not sure. It was an aesthetically pleasing show, though, despite the fact that I found the content entirely elusive, even more so now that nearly a year has passed.

Mallory, who I find to be one of the most articulate theater artists I have ever met, told me that the new Banana Bag & Bodice show was up, so I went on Thursday instead of going to Spiderman 3 at the IMAX which is where Nyerwin was. The Rise and Fall of the Rising Fallen was a kind of mockumentary on a punk band with patches of narrative interwoven with bursts of songs. The stories weren't cohesive enough to fully chronicle the rise and fall of the band, though some snips were amusing enough (how the band got into playing the oil-rig circuit for 6 months at a time -- which was great, asides from the blowjobs) and the songs, though often too short to be satisfying, and ridiculously simple (as rock songs tend to be), were fun enough -- and performed with great verve. It was strange to feel like I was at a rock concert, but sitting in a bank of folding chairs from which I could not get up and jump up and down to the thrilling beat of angst if I had wanted to. The audience was clearly enjoying the whole experience, but I left feeling rather like I had been slipped a date rape drug. It was all kind of incoherent and disjointed, kind of like this post is.