***1/2PS122 (where else?)
After severely disliking last year's An Oak Tree, I was leery about this production of Doublethink which, like ...Tree, features performers who walk into Act 1, Scene 1 completely unknowing of what the hell's gonna happen over the course of the show. In ...Tree it was a long list of orders: "Okay, stand here now". "Say this". "Now look over there". etc. It got very tedious and I could sense the actor's frustration with being micromanaged. Doublethink generally begins with the same concept (though here there are two actors who cannot see each other who are performing the same tasks). It is when another layer of reality (which I shouldn't give away here) is added that this performance art experiment really pops and becomes this trippy, fascinating, avant garde study in human behavior. These actors, like in ...Tree , still have those "what on earth have I gotten myself into?" looks on their faces but that's exactly what the creators of Doublethink were hoping for.
Also blogged by: [Aaron]
The company open another - very different (although similar sounding show this THursday also at PS122 - FIVE IN THE MORNING
ReplyDeleteIn Five in the Morning, three willing guests take instructions from the loudspeakers of Aquaworld, an enormous swimming pool complex. Clothed in swim suits, clutching towels, they do what they're told. At first hilarious and fun, their predicament transforms slowly into a strange and powerful reality. Teeth-grinding, disturbing, hilarious and addictive, Rotozaza's 'minimal masterpiece' explores the thin line between theatrical illusion and deceit.