Review- Unbearable Dreams VI- Hope
5-10-12
On Thursday I was invited to see Unbearable Dreams VI- Hope which was part of the Asia Meets Asia Festival 2012. It's a fusion festival of artists from all across Asia. This year's festival included participants from Tokyo, Taipei, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Kabul, Bangalore and Bangkok. There will be several performances over this weekend. Due to the somewhat organic nature of this production I cannot guarantee that you'll see the same show I saw tonight.
Hope is not for the faint of heart or shy audience members. It is a show for audience members who appreciate theatre pieces with high theatrical value and avant garde tendencies. Full of high theatrical movement, strong pictures, a tapestry of languages and a complete lack of plot... I thoroughly enjoyed my night with the cast of Hope. I know other members of the audience were really confused and some thought the show was terrible but I think the show comes down to a matter of taste.
This show has some great things about it that I have never seen before as an audience member. One, it used all five of the senses. Sight and hearing are easy to hit in the theatrical arts. With touch, they hit the audience with water, flour, and occasional whip cream. With smell, they set something on fire back stage that filled the house with a positively acrid odor for most of the third scene. For taste, an actress ate rocks, vomited them up and then offered them to audience to lick and taste afterwards. I have never seen all the senses so thoroughly hit by one company at once. Bravo.
I thought this company had some very brave ideas about pushing the limits of theatricality. I enjoyed the piece where the fluorescent tubing was used as bones on one of the performers and he performed a traditional chinese dance while in the dark. It made a stunning effect on stage and was one of my favorite moments. The music was beautiful in this part as well. Great job to whom ever was playing the instruments backstage - I couldn't see you but you did a great job!
I also really enjoyed the performance of Chen Chih-Chung of Taiwan. First of all, I am not saying this to be super nice or patronizing in any way. I honestly had no idea this performer was disabled until about 3/4 the way through the production. His way of contorting his body around is simply astonishing to watch and his bird like posture when he crouches and tilts his head is actually very creepy (in a good way). I beg him, please don't be shy about taking your bow. You're an amazing performer and should be proud of your work. I thought you did an amazing performance tonight.
This show was full of some brilliant images throughout the night that deserve special highlighting: the paper rubbish man (a la Endgame) during the pre-show, the flashlight scene, the creation of an ice-skating rink using flip-flops and the balanced rocks with the spike tape used to create the star scape for the last image. The show was filled with brilliant theatrical imagery that would make any artist really contemplate what they could do with their next piece.
Now, would I recommend this show to the every day Joe off the street? No. It has no plot, no characters, no theme and they probably wouldn't like it. Would I recommend it to a serious artist who appreciates theatre of the absurb? Absolutely. This show demands an art loving audience. I think it's brilliant because it showed me some things I've never seen before. But there was very little rhyme or reason to their madness, despite its beauty. It's playing through the weekend at the JCCAC in Shek Kip Mei. If you think you're brave enough to take it on, go check it out!
NOTE: There is also a 2nd part to tonight's show called A Madman's Diary that will be playing at 8pm Saturday. It is apparently completely different and the opposite side of the coin to tonight's presentation. The program for tonight's presentation was provided in Chinese only. No offense is meant if names are mispelled.
Comments
Manda
I really want to see this show now! It sounds so weird and yet amazing!
05 October 2012Mok Chiu Yu
A unique piece of Asian theatre.
05 October 2012
Ping Chen
Just saw the Mad Man show at the matinee. That thing was seriously f-d up. You were not kidding when you said "brave" audience required. I felt uncomfortable and a little sick watching it to be honest. I think they also need a warning for fast moving lights on this show as they used a lot of them and I left the show with a big headache. Would hate to be epileptic seeing that show...
06 October 2012