The Power of Rejection - Not So Empowering

I really don't know what was going on for most of Mikhail Tank's The Power of Rejection. At the beginning he related a Greek legend, and then an anecdote from a personal experience, and I figured that the show would be more of that. I could have been fine with more of his stories, because he seemed very comfortable delivering them. But after the second story the show turned into a weird-musical spoken word fusion with very little structure or objective. For thirty minutes I watched Tank wander around, mostly far upstage, relating knee-deep parables about rejection into a microphone.

I get that Tank wants to assert his freedom from judgment, and he's trying to encourage his audience not to be afraid, but there's taking one on the chin and then there's denial. With his fortune-cookie wisdom Tank advocates more for ignorance than the kind of true self-awareness that comes from critical examination. You can hold your head high even if you feel bad, and despite his assertion that he's embraced his own identity despite rejection, I'm not sure Tank realizes that.

There was a moment where I felt like I was watching a scene from Arrested Development. Remember how Job used to dance around at the beginning of his magic shows to The Final Countdown? This was like that - only it wasn't a comedy and I was watching a real-life Job meander around a stage and repeat “expire love” into a microphone with a sweater loosely hanging from his head. I have no idea why there was a sweater on his head. And why did he wear a suit two sizes too big?

With very little structure, purpose or direction I have to wonder if Tank bothered to get an outside opinion. He could use some objective judgment and actually empower himself by listening to criticism and making changes. The message is one worth giving, but the delivery doesn't make any sense.