In Jennifer Baichwal’s film "Manufactured Landscapes":http://www.zeitgeistfilms.com/film.php?directoryname=manufacturedlandscapes (which follows celebrated landscape photographer "Edward Burtynsky":http://www.edwardburtynsky.com/) there is a sequence so powerful it gets my vote for most distressing glimpse of the future award. In China Baichwal films a woman, looking like a peasant from the dark ages, as she roasts circuit-boards to melt the solder and retrieve valuable components.
Lost in the roasting circuit-boards; photo: Chris Randle
It has taken a couple of days for my estrogen levels to make their way back to normal. Whose idea was it to send a fertile 29 year-old woman to cover a show full of unbearably adorable scraggly east side kids [Ed’s note: it was Maryse, she volunteered]? I don’t usually have to resist the urge to run on stage and ruffle the actors’ messy hair, nor am I normally as forgiving of such a fidgety cast. Of course, when the actors are no older than 14, one has to make exceptions…
=Messing with Maryse's estrogen, the kids in That Night Follows Day
_Nanay_ (pronounced: nu-nai) is the Filipino word for mother. *Nanay* is the project of a talented group, including a university professor, researchers, actors, creative team, political advocates and the testimonials of Live-In-Caregivers who have come from the Philippines. It is a living play, in which the audience divides into groups and walk through various vignettes representing the homes and experiences of those involved with the Live-In-Caregiver Program (LCP).
For the second production in a row, the thought “maybe I shouldn’t be reviewing this show” crossed my mind. But for very different reasons. Last time, the trust required to take a leap of faith with an artist was never created for me. This is not an issue with James Long and Maiko Bae Yamamoto of "Theatre Replacement":http://www.theatrereplacement.org/. I trust these guys implicitly. Their work is always thoughtful and challenging and never descends into obscurity or randomness. I’ll go anywhere with them. *That Night Follows Day* is no different. Well, it is different in one important regard, they are...
Real kids in That Night Follows Day; photo: Tim Matheson
Analytically, this is a tough work to discuss. *Live From a Bush of Ghosts* isn't a play or a dance piece, nor is it a concert or a video instillation; it manages to be all these things simultaneously. It's a contemporary art mash-up that in less talented hands could easily have become a snarled and tangled mess. It bears an ambitious mandate and for the most part succeeds at it. The piece, produced by "Theatre Conspiracy":http://www.conspiracy.ca/ and part of the ongoing "PuSh Festival":http://pushfestival.ca/index.php?mpage=home, ends up being a live performance version of a very good concept album, dense and...
From the Zooropian Star Chamber, Live from a Bush of Ghosts; photo: Chris Randle
I watched a "video":http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/steven_strogatz_on_sync.html the other day that dealt with the theory of synchronicity and how everything on earth will, in an involuntary way, naturally come together in some sort of sync. The speaker’s demonstration was simple, can an audience automatically clap in sync? I believe this has some relevance to *Steve Reich’s Drumming*, which I attended at the Heritage Hall on Main Street in Vancouver on February 3rd as part of the ongoing "PuSh Festival":http://pushfestival.ca/index.php?mpage=home.
*Maryse Zeidler* who stares bravely into the void every morning while the coffee brews
*Andrew Templeton* who stares in the mirror and wonders "who the hell is that?"
*Ashleigh Dalton* who likes to assemble puzzles, IKEA furniture and food such as lasagna
*Rachel Scott* who likes to assemble complex relationships, yoga sequences and logic traps
Who took in Radix Theatre’s *Assembly*, part of this year’s PuSh Festival.
Modern life getting you down? Try Assembly; Paul Ternes in the box, photo: Janet Baxter, photomontage Andreas Khare
Dubbed “the greatest living composer” by the New York Times and “the most original musical thinker of our times” by the New Yorker, the notion of reviewing *Steve Reich’s Drumming* was intimidating to say the least. I had high hopes for Tuesday night’s sold out show at Heritage Hall, part of the ongoing "PuSh Festival":http://pushfestival.ca/index.php?mpage=shows&spage=main&id=79#show. I was not disappointed.
