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As If In Sleep

by Tim Barsky
SF Weekly Review October 23, 2002 (Michael Scott Moore)

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As If in Sleep
The most teeming, inventive, and good-spirited production in the city right now
BY MICHAEL SCOTT MOORE

The weirdest part of Tim Barsky's
one-man storytelling extravaganza is also
the best reason to see it: Barsky plays hip
hop flute. I am not kidding. He trills
minor-toned melodies over a heavy
beatbox rhythm with a trick of his lips
and tongue, getting three or four lines of
melody and rhythm going at once. It's
amazing. Barsky also chants like a
keening rabbi, encourages the audience
to sing a refrain, and plays a number of
drums (bodhran, conga) while weaving a
pair of very different stories into a
not-quite-seamless whole. One story is a
mythical yarn about Molly, an Irish
fisherwoman who falls in love with a
seal-woman and goes on a quest to
revive a dead raven. The other is a
realistic story based on Barsky's own
experience as an outreach worker in
Providence, R.I. His myth material cloys
-- he uses too much of it, which dilutes its
power -- but the realistic parts have an impressive range of characters and
street voices. Sometimes he seems to push the colorful array of his own
influences (Jewish and Iraqi folklore, Sufism, hip hop culture and music --
never mind the Irish Molly) a bit too hard, but he's also young, so you can't
blame him for bathing in a sea of tradition. If the show is disorganized, it's
also the most teeming, inventive, and good-spirited production in the city
right now.

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