- OTHER MEDIA
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- Like an abstract expressionist painting -- open to
interpretation
- by Nathaniel Eaton
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- Local performance company Mugwumpin's press release proudly declares
that they are interested in questioning the primacy of text and narrative
in theater. With super: anti: reluctant they do that and more by chucking
out any semblance of cohesive story line. The theme of this "ensemble-created
assemblage" is that of "heroic archetypes and their sway over
culture." I quote liberally from their press release because in creating
this show involving (again to quote) "original and found music, text,
gesture, and sheer freakishness," the results are befuddling and open
to myriad interpretations. Five actors in black-and-gray business suits
move frenetically and with the confusing tendency to speak over each other's
dialogue. They mime putting on superhero outfits and they play out a succession
of unrelated scenes: homesteaders wagoning West looking for a plot of land,
a woman writing a Philip Marlowe novel, and frustrated customers in line
at a Starbucks. It's like an abstract expressionist painting, with a lo-fi
set made of butcher paper and packing tape and sound cues coming from a
'70s cassette deck. The meaning and emotional impact is left to the individual
viewer. The opinion of one audience member I overheard after the show was
"brilliant," while I left feeling bewildered.
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