05 October 2007

Soiree Dada

You walk into a room and a bunch of performers in whiteface compete for your attention.

"Hello. Would you like to play this game?"

The game might be "Guess what I am thinking," or "Throw an acorn through this piece of torn cardboard."

If you succeed at the game, you get to sit down. Maybe you get to have a cookie. Maybe you get to have a glass of bad wine. When you try to get up, you find that doing so is bad form. "Where are you going? The show is going to start soon."

Really? You assumed the show had started.

Regardless, you stay where you are so as not to further disappoint the disappointed clown. And, indeed, lights dim and an emcee proceeds with a definition of dada. Nonsensical of course, but highly dramatic, sinister, emotional.

An series of sketches follow, some involving audience participation, all highly dramatic, yet incomprehensible. This is dada, I think: you feel that something is important, but you can't be sure exactly what that is.

Recommended. After this, I'd take a look at anything that WNEP Theater decides to tackle.

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