Needs and Wants
1/16-18/08
This past weekend I had the enormous pleasure of seeing a really extraordinary show. It was part of the Under the Radar Festival presented by the Public Theater. The show was called “small metal objects” and it was performed at the Whitehall Staten Island Ferry Terminal. Jon and I went on Sunday afternoon and since the show was being performed for free, I returned with my friend Joe on Monday night for the final performance. The audience sat in makeshift theater, a raked platform with seats. Each seat had a set of headphones. Berni, the production manager, held up large placards instructing the audience members to do a sound check, if you were hearing the theme from “Shaft” you were good to go. So after the sound check music, the sound design kicked in, sound accents rather than music per se, but somehow perfect and even with the headphones on, you could hear the sounds of the terminal, kids crying, announcement for the ferry arrival, and a general din of crowd (at the afternoon show I saw there was this one man that kept blowing a little “duck call” whistle at what seemed to be specific intervals, which seemed so perfect that at first we thought it was part of the show). And then the dialogue begins coming through the headphones, but it’s not immediately clear where the actors are. It was this amazing cinematic long shot. A wide shot of the whole terminal as your eyes scan with more focused precision, to see where is this conversation is coming from. Who in this crowd is having this conversation that you can hear? There are pregnant pauses in the dialogue, the Australian accent are heavy. One voice is higher than the other and having seen a picture of the two featured actors on the program I have in my head who is who (it turns out I’m wrong, the higher voice belongs to the shorter actor). I’m looking for where the voices are coming from but I’m also SO enjoying the search, “people-watching” at it’s best. People starring at the audience trying to figure out what are we doing here. And then you find the actors, you see who’s speaking, now the set expands. Not only are people taking in the audience, but some people are just going on with their lives completely oblivious to the performance present, then the layer of passerby’s that take in the performers. Do they, in passing by, hear what we hear?
It’s almost like a dance as two other actors enter the scene the beautiful duet turns into something else. For me this merger of public space and private dialogue was such a unique doorway into humanity, an opening like one found in Alice’s Wonderland, very unexpected. And because it was at the Staten Island Ferry Terminal it felt very New York, because while the accents were Australian, the supporting cast was a cross-section of New York’s diverse population. It didn’t really occur to me until my friend Joe pointed it out. He commented that the show was about needs and wants. And yes one couple needing “the gear” a euphemism for drugs I suspect. One character needing to be left alone in thought. His mate not wanting to leave him alone. I got me sort of thinking about wants and needs in general. The piece was produced by Australia’s Back to Back Theatre which “was founded in 1987 to create theatre with people who are percieved to have an intellectual disability. The show was apparently inspired by the thoughts and philosophies of one of the devisors/performers, Sonia Teuben. All the performers, including Sonia were superb and the concept outstanding. The Sydney Morning Herald called it “a pure open-hearted, unique meditation on human worth.” I would call it a pure, open-hearted, unique meditation on humanity.
This past weekend I had the enormous pleasure of seeing a really extraordinary show. It was part of the Under the Radar Festival presented by the Public Theater. The show was called “small metal objects” and it was performed at the Whitehall Staten Island Ferry Terminal. Jon and I went on Sunday afternoon and since the show was being performed for free, I returned with my friend Joe on Monday night for the final performance. The audience sat in makeshift theater, a raked platform with seats. Each seat had a set of headphones. Berni, the production manager, held up large placards instructing the audience members to do a sound check, if you were hearing the theme from “Shaft” you were good to go. So after the sound check music, the sound design kicked in, sound accents rather than music per se, but somehow perfect and even with the headphones on, you could hear the sounds of the terminal, kids crying, announcement for the ferry arrival, and a general din of crowd (at the afternoon show I saw there was this one man that kept blowing a little “duck call” whistle at what seemed to be specific intervals, which seemed so perfect that at first we thought it was part of the show). And then the dialogue begins coming through the headphones, but it’s not immediately clear where the actors are. It was this amazing cinematic long shot. A wide shot of the whole terminal as your eyes scan with more focused precision, to see where is this conversation is coming from. Who in this crowd is having this conversation that you can hear? There are pregnant pauses in the dialogue, the Australian accent are heavy. One voice is higher than the other and having seen a picture of the two featured actors on the program I have in my head who is who (it turns out I’m wrong, the higher voice belongs to the shorter actor). I’m looking for where the voices are coming from but I’m also SO enjoying the search, “people-watching” at it’s best. People starring at the audience trying to figure out what are we doing here. And then you find the actors, you see who’s speaking, now the set expands. Not only are people taking in the audience, but some people are just going on with their lives completely oblivious to the performance present, then the layer of passerby’s that take in the performers. Do they, in passing by, hear what we hear?
It’s almost like a dance as two other actors enter the scene the beautiful duet turns into something else. For me this merger of public space and private dialogue was such a unique doorway into humanity, an opening like one found in Alice’s Wonderland, very unexpected. And because it was at the Staten Island Ferry Terminal it felt very New York, because while the accents were Australian, the supporting cast was a cross-section of New York’s diverse population. It didn’t really occur to me until my friend Joe pointed it out. He commented that the show was about needs and wants. And yes one couple needing “the gear” a euphemism for drugs I suspect. One character needing to be left alone in thought. His mate not wanting to leave him alone. I got me sort of thinking about wants and needs in general. The piece was produced by Australia’s Back to Back Theatre which “was founded in 1987 to create theatre with people who are percieved to have an intellectual disability. The show was apparently inspired by the thoughts and philosophies of one of the devisors/performers, Sonia Teuben. All the performers, including Sonia were superb and the concept outstanding. The Sydney Morning Herald called it “a pure open-hearted, unique meditation on human worth.” I would call it a pure, open-hearted, unique meditation on humanity.
posted by Nadette! @ 9:49 AM
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