Above:

Choreographer Alyssa Mitchel in partnership with The Exploratorium presented Here. Now. on the spacious plaza outside the museum at Pier 15 San Francisco, 6-14 November 2021. Here. Now. performed six one hour shows on two weekends with Mitchel’s company of ten dancers. These free dance events brought audiences of dance fans, passengers on passing street cars peering out the windows and people passing by – some on their bicycles – to pause and reflect.

They were all drawn by the soundscape and beautiful music of composer Julian Drucker and the vibrant dancers in colorful costumes designed by Jamielyn Duggan, on the picturesque waterfront by the Bay. Here. Now. comprises six sections, with no intermission: Section 1: Loving Kindness; Section 2: Tonglen; Section 3: Noting; Section 4: Four Noble Truths; Section 5: Eightfold Path; Section 6: Body Scan.

The contemporary dance style and Mitchel’s creative choreography, with touches of athletic physicality, ritual, balletic turns and hip hop combine ensemble, duos and a solo, each section with it’s own tone and based on the Buddha’s Teachings. Highlights are – Section 2: Tonglen, a duo with dancers Ismael Acosta and Jessica DeFranco; an outstanding dynamic solo with fast speeds and intricate choreography to spoken word about meditating, thinking, feeling and distraction with dancer Fabiana Santiago in Section 3: Noting; and the final piece danced by the ensemble, which mirrors some formations from the opening section and further explores movement and footwork styles, speed changes and incorporated fast changing complex lines using the entire space of the plaza.

That these two entities would collaborate and present this dance work together is inspiring. The Exploratorium is well known as an imaginative space of science, inquiry, curiosity, community and transformative experiences. Mitchel, a dancer and choreographer has a long time fascination with mathematics and together with a deep interest in exploring mindfulness, meditation and fulfillment.

This is a true melding of art and science! Mitchel began working on Here. Now. during the pandemic and it is appropriate that it is presented outdoors and offered to the public now – not only as an entertainment, but also as a generous and visceral way to bring community together, to reflect and enjoy the live performance.

More Information:

https://alyssaevemitchel.weebly.com/

https://www.exploratorium.edu/

Jo Tomalin

Dance and Theatre Reviewer

www.ForAllEvents.com

above: Re-Animation Photo: Teatr Pinokio

Review by Jo Tomalin

Enchanting Puppetry

Poland’s Pinokio Teatr company presents The Metaphysical Caravan, a series of puppet shows held in their mobile theatre – a beautiful little caravan at the 2015 Edinburgh Fringe Festival. This company valiantly drove their special caravan across Europe from Lodz, Poland for the Fringe and is performing three different twenty minute puppet shows each day; each show is performed with a different puppetry style. Therefore, if you like puppetry, especially unusual puppetry techniques, then try to see all three shows. Puppetry is often thought of as a children’s entertainment, but it has great appeal to adults and any of the three Metaphysical Caravan shows are relatable and equally entertaining to very young children as well as adults.

At 11:00 The Sunset play is about an elderly lady sitting at home thinking about her life. The beautifully sculpted head and her small frame are sensitively manipulated by two puppeteers wearing black clothing, so they are unseen. Behind a large glass window we are looking into her home, and miniature black and white videos play on tiny screens. It’s a delicate and beautiful silent memory story accompanied by gentle guitar music.

The Metaphysical Caravan

13:00 A Table for Two is unique! A man sits at the table waiting for his guest. When no one arrives he decides to create a friend. Without giving away too much, this is simple story which quickly develops with humour and imagination while the masterful puppeteer creates images in front of the audience. Video clips are cleverly integrated in this little piece – it’s remarkable!

15:00 Re-Animation is based on body puppetry. A young woman is in bed and she has a bandaged foot. As the lighting changes mysterious things happen. It is a humorous piece showing how puppetry can be so simple and effective to communicate thoughts, ideas and emotions. A short optional workshop about the unusual body puppetry technique is offered immediately after the show by the puppeteer.

The Metaphysical Caravan’s mobile theatre holds about a dozen audience members at most on real theatre seating from an old theatre in Poland. All of these shows are short and disarmingly simple…as well as…charming, fascinating, intriguing, plus created and performed with care and heart by the accomplished puppeteers. The Metaphysical Caravan is a unique and special theatrical experience. So go and find the caravan before it returns to Poland! It’s’s tucked away, parked towards the back of the courtyard at Summerhall.

Review Originally Published in www.FringeReview.co.uk

More Information:

• http://www.teatrpinokio.pl/

Jo Tomalin, Ph.D. reviews Dance, Theatre & Physical Theatre Performances
More Reviews by Jo Tomalin
TWITTER @JoTomalin
www.forallevents.com  Arts & Travel Reviews

above: Dragon – Photo by © Drew Farrell

Review by Jo Tomalin

Dragon
Edinburgh International Festival 2015
Pictured: Scott Miller as Tommy
Vox Motus/National Theatre of Scotland/Tianjin People’s Arts Theatre
Photo credit: Drew Farrell
Fri 14 & Sat 15 Aug 7pm, Sat 15 Aug 2pm, Sun 16 Aug 12noon & 4pm
Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh
+44 (0)131 473 2000
eif.co.uk/dragon

Outstanding  

Mesmerizing Dragon!

Visually stunning and beautifully performed by the ensemble of seven actors, Dragon explores themes of telling the truth and staying silent. Vox Motus, National Theatre of Scotland, and Tianjin People’s Art Theatre (China) present Dragon – a spectacular piece of theatre without words for adults, teenagers and children, marking the first co-production between the three companies.

Directors Jamie Harrison and Candice Edmunds, and Designer Jamie Harrison have developed an exceptionally creative production, which received a well-deserved ovation on opening night, August 14, at the Edinburgh International Festival 2015.

Dragon
Photo © Drew Farrell

After losing his mother the character Tommy experiences fear, grief and bullying. Trying to deal with everything unsuccessfully on his own, a friendly dragon becomes his guide to help him. The dragon is a shape shifter – arriving when least expected and looking slightly different each time.

The wonderful ensemble of seven actors (Martin McCormick, Joanne McGuinness, Scott Miller, Amanda Wright, Gavin Jon Wright, Kai Zhang and Yan Tao) play authentic and compelling characters, supported by outstanding physical acting skills – and they manipulate puppets and props with precision. Without any spoken words the actors use their physicality to emote subtly. This is very effective storytelling and what is so special is that the physical acting is very pure –with no mime, exaggeration or pretend speaking – these actors do not need words.

Design for every part of this production is excellent! Harrison’s gorgeous Set Design is like pages in a picture book…dark blue sky, silhouettes of houses, huge stuffed clouds that change from white to dark grey. Tables, beds and doorways glide on by the actors with some genius staging.

Lighting Design by Simon Wilkinson is dramatic and unifies the design of the play perfectly. Music composed by Tim Philips underscores throughout and has a filmic quality that moves the story forward and complements the action. Mark Melville’s Sound design includes clever sound effects matching the action. Puppets designed by Harrison and Guy Bishop are awesome, have remarkable movement and are built with a variety of textured materials. Don’t miss this show – it’s absolutely enchanting.

Tickets and More Information:

Performances: Fri 14 & Sat 15 Aug 7pm, Sat 15 Aug 2pm, Sun 16 Aug 12noon & 4pm
Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh
+44 (0)131 473 2000
eif.co.uk/dragon

• Dragon at Edinburgh International Festival
• Edinburgh International Festival 2015 Website

Jo Tomalin, Ph.D. reviews Dance, Theatre & Physical Theatre Performances
More Reviews by Jo Tomalin
TWITTER @JoTomalin
www.forallevents.com  Arts & Travel Reviews

above:  Hotel Paradiso Photo by © Michael Vogel

Hotel Paradiso – Mask Theatre at Edinburgh Fringe Festival

Hotel Paradiso is a mask theatre show set in a modest family run hotel in the Alps – silent and very funny. Four physical actors actors from the established Berlin-based Familie Flöz mask theatre company perform three or four different characters each, so there’s never a dull moment as the staff get on with their work and a stream of guests enter the hotel seeking hospitality.

There are not so many mask shows – or good ones around these days and Hotel Paradiso is a great example, so see it while you can. Their masks cover the actors’ faces completely with exaggerated features and neutral expressions. The neutral faces make it possible for the actors to tilt their head or use their physicality to show different moods such as happy, sad, or secretive – and their reactions to each other without speaking a word. These actors are quick change artists because they change characters, masks and costumes very quickly and return to the stage looking completely different for each character.

Think of it as a day or two in the life of this hotel. The actors take time to establish who is who from the beginning – this timing offers moments that show their personalities to the audience and it’s also good mask theatre technique. They use their entire bodies to show different characters by changing their posture or gestures and by moving their head.

Slapstick features in several scenes and this ensemble is very good at justifying these sequences within their characters – this is not mindless slapstick but it adds to the story and relationships. Several doorways that are well used give a farce-like quality to the story, which moves along swiftly and takes unexpected turns – and surprises – along the way.

This hotel has an old fashioned feel to it, is in need of modernizing, but charming nevertheless. The guests are hilarious and all have their idiosyncrasies, such as the trendy lady, wealthy lady with lots of the luggage and the sweetheart. The receptionist has his own way of doing things and doesn’t mind a bit of flirting. The hotel staff and owners are generally friendly but have secrets, which add depth and dimension to the characters. A large detailed colorful set has its own nooks and crannies, as well as a secret or two, which make it fun. There are also soulful moments, which draw the audience in even more. The 75 minute show is very entertaining and relatable to all ages.

Review originally published in: www.FringeReview.co.uk

More Information:

•  Company Website: www.floez.net
•  Tickets at Edinburgh Fringe Festival

Jo Tomalin, Ph.D. reviews Dance, Theatre & Physical Theatre Performances
More Reviews by Jo Tomalin
TWITTER @JoTomalin
www.forallevents.com  Arts & Travel Reviews

above: Antigone Patrick O’Kane + Samuel Edward-Cook  Photo credit: Jan Versweyveld

Juliette Binoche as Antigone Photo © Jan Versweyveld
Edinburgh International Festival 2015Sat 8 – Sat 22 Aug 7.30pm (except Mon 10 & Mon 17 Aug); Sat 15 & Sat 22 Aug 2.30pm; Preview Fri 7 Aug 7.30pm
King’s Theatre
eif.co.uk/Antigone
+44 (0)131 473 2000 

Highly Recommended

Ivo van Hove’s Antigone

Ivo van Hove directs Antigone, currently on tour at the 2015 Edinburgh International Festival from 12 to 22 August at the King’s Theatre. Antigone is headlined by the acclaimed actor Juliette Binoche, with an excellent cast.

Antigone’s brother Polyneikes has been killed but Kreon says he was a traitor, therefore, refuses him a proper burial. In this play Antigone makes her case to Kreon to bury her brother.

Sophocles wrote the original version of the play which has been translated for van Hove by Anne Carson. Van Hove has been widely acclaimed for his unusual but stark powerful choices in his recent directing on Arthur Miller’s A View from the Bridge. Antigone’s set and lighting design by Jan Versweyveld is stark and streamlined in it’s all black set, a wide stage with a raised platform, and a lower area resembling a slick city flat with built in sofa and table. On the back wall there is a huge disk, which changes in significance during the play.

As soon as the play starts there is a deliberateness in the pacing of the spoken text. The language, updated by Carson, is spoken in a restrained and pointed ‘unpresentational’ and unemotional way that takes a bit of getting used to at first. The addition of body microphones on most of the actors means it is possible to speak softly with nuances and still be heard very clearly. This allows the actors, the excellent Patrick O’Kane’s Kreon in particular, to sound like he is thinking about what he is saying as he talks to his fellow characters – and not ‘proclaiming’ or projecting his speeches. His scenes are very effective and there is a combustible tension when he realizes that Antigone washed her brother.

The five-person Chorus is fascinating – each actor in the Chorus doubles up as another character: Obi Abili is also a Guard, Kirsty Bushnell also Ismene, Samuel Edward-Cook is Haimon, Finbar Lynch plays Teiresias and Kathryn Pogson plays Eurydike. These characters stay on stage a lot of the time, and transition effortlessly from the Chorus – hanging out in the living room – to their second character. They each distinguish themselves as both characters, particularly Abili’s matter of fact contemporary take as the Guard, which added humour, planned or not.

Juliette Binoche’s Antigone is fresh, raw, determined and naïve, believing that it is her brother’s right to an honourable burial and she fights for it. Binoche and O’Kane’s scene where Antigone tells Kreon that she did right by her brother is authentic, bringing out  Kreon’s paternal side. Bushnell’s intervention in this family crisis as Ismene, fighting with Kreon for her sister, Antigone’s life is a high point for these actors.

Modern costumes by An d’Huys comprising black or dark textured overcoats, suits and Binoche’s two piece trouser and short sleeved top add to the production’s contemporary feel. Video projections of street scenes and others by Tai Yarden play intermittently throughout the play with chilling images near the end.

This is a new take on Antigone which is very interesting and quite effective. The pacing lets the audience in to listen, reflect and appreciate the language and situation.

Tickets and More Information:

• Edinburgh International Festival http://www.eif.co.uk/

Jo Tomalin, Ph.D. reviews Dance, Theatre & Physical Theatre Performances
More Reviews by Jo Tomalin
TWITTER @JoTomalin
www.forallevents.com  Arts & Travel Reviews

photo above: The Encounter  Edinburgh International Festival 2015  Complicite  Performer: Simon McBurney  Photo credit: Robbie Jack

Review by Jo Tomalin

The Encounter (rehearsals)
Edinburgh International Festival 2015
Complicite  Performer: Simon McBurney
Photo credit: Gianmarco Bresadola

Outstanding

The Encounter is Complicite’s new production with Simon McBurney, inspired by the book Amazon Beaming by Petru Popescu – presenting its world premiere at the Edinburgh International Festival 2015.

Complicite is an award winning physical theatre company that produces fascinating, devised, thought provoking ensemble shows created and directed by McBurney, also an actor who sometimes performs in them. The Encounter (a one person show) is a brilliant idea and performance supported by sound technology wizardry .

As the audience enters Simon McBurney walks around the wide stage which is strewn with plastic water bottles. Several microphone stands, a cardboard box, a desk and chair are also on stage – and a repetitive line pattern covers the huge black wall upstage. He chats to the audience casually saying he is inspired by telling stories to his children – and how stories get inside our heads.

Intense and articulate, wearing a khaki shirt, cap and jeans, McBurney tells us to put our headsets on or we won’t be able to hear the play. However, the Sennheiser headsets we wear and an onstage mask on a stand acting as a sensitive microphone are just the start of the unusual and magical journey. Playing with sounds and accents sitting or moving about the stage, McBurney talks and the sound is extraordinary – as if he is sitting very close and whispering in our left ear and then the right ear. This is clever sound magic!

Rehearsing and developing this piece he worked long hours at home and his young daughter interrupts his work several times. Her presence asking for something to eat and a story, (recorded by chance during his rehearsals) are part of the show when her voice is played as if she’s in the next room. It’s authentic and human.

McBurney interacts with the masked head – a binaural conduit for the stunning sound quality – yet it becomes its own character. In a space of his own creation, McBurney swigs water, makes sound effects with it such as waves or rain – his voice is now in our heads and he wants to”‘pull the story out of our subconscious.” In fact we are being taken on a journey into the Amazon deeper than we expect to go as McBurney narrates then becomes characters within the story.

McBurney is his own foley artist and taps various foot pedals to sample sounds that he makes onstage, recording clips effortlessly, repeating them to make a cacophony of voices in our head, sound effects  or rhythmic sounds that he moves to freely. Timing and coordination of these elements are impeccable.

At this point we are in deeper than a radio play and going for the full immersion with McBurney into the jungle to meet the Mayoruna tribe – ‘close your eyes, it’s all like a film in your head’ he says. It’s so true.  His commitment to this story and how he weaves the Mayorunan people and American photographer, Loren McIntyre’s encounter with them is nothing short of masterful!

McBurney’s magnetic characterizations and intense raw emotional dynamism are the force of this extraordinary performance. This is an abstract two hour piece grounded in physical storytelling and narration of a poignant story dramatically told with wry humor. Not to be missed.

More Information and Tickets:

Sat 8, Sun 9, Mon 10, Sun 16, Mon 17, Wed 19, Fri 21, Sat 22 Aug 7.30pm; Fri 14, Sat 15, Thu 20, Sun 23 Aug 2.30pm, Preview Fri 7 Aug 7.30pm

Location: Edinburgh International Conference Centre

+44 (0)131 473 2000

eif.co.uk/encounter

Jo Tomalin, Ph.D. reviews Dance, Theatre & Physical Theatre Performances
More Reviews by Jo Tomalin
TWITTER @JoTomalin
www.forallevents.com  Arts & Travel Reviews

above: Woolley Eyed Turtle 3D – Photo Permission: Cantankerous Theatre

 Two zany women – Wildly dynamic physical storytelling!

Review by Jo Tomalin

Maeve Bell (l) Emily Johnson (r)

Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2015
Highly Recommended

These two zany women perform a creatively devised show full of characters set in a community care home in Ireland. You will meet Liam and Noreen, Grace and others as the exuberant Maeve Bell and Emily Johnson take you on this journey. It’s comedic and fun, for sure, but also witty and heartfelt.

The Saint Mary Magdelene Mother of Hope Care Home’s motto is “What fills your day, prolongs your stay” so we first learn about the activities that will keep everyone not cantankerous. As the carers go about their work they discover the patrons’ life stories and take on the characters themselves, which is very entertaining – it is then that we are invited to put on our 3D glasses.

Although Bell and Johnson are nowhere near the ages of the characters they portray, they do a great job switching between several characters. Wearing dark green unitards and the same short black hair style, they become male and female characters of all ages moving easily between various accents. This is quite a feat because they don’t even add costumes – there’s no time – but their strength is in the physical aspects of telling the story, so they simply adjust their posture and facial expressions. Maeve Bell has some particularly exaggerated expressions – sometimes her eyes seem to pop out of her head, while her mouth contorts – it’s hilarious!

There’s music and movement too – Contemporary / Irish dance mash up, which add to the playful absurdist nature of Cantankerous Theatre. Both performers take turns narrating and it’s very effective, even to the back row. They also integrate objects into their storytelling such as the bit with a toy plane, which is fun.

What sets this show apart is how the performers relate to each other – they are Yin and Yang, complementing each other well. There is mischief, charm and warmth in the show coming from how Bell and Johnson interact, really listening and reacting to each other and the audience. They enjoy what they are doing and therefore, this ripples out to the audience. The story, packed full of fascinating intergenerational observations is well developed, and although some moments are probably improvised the structure is solid and they stay on track – women on a mission! Oh, the woolley eyed turtle? Well you’ll have to go and discover that for yourself – it will be worthwhile.

The PBH Free Fringe 2015 is producing a lot of theatre shows this year. Therefore, this show – Woolley Eyed Turtle 3D – is free, no tickets or reservations required!

Free     7:30pm at Cafe Camino (55 minutes), to August 29, 2015 – No Mondays at Venue 65, Little King Street, Edinburgh

• http://freefringe.org.uk/edinburgh-fringe-festival/woolly-eyed-turtle-in-3d/all/
• Cantankerous Theatre

Jo Tomalin, Ph.D. reviews Dance, Theatre & Physical Theatre Performances
More Reviews by Jo Tomalin
TWITTER @JoTomalin
www.forallevents.com  Arts & Travel Reviews

This review originally published in www.FringeReview.co.uk

Highly Recommended   

Weird, Wonderful Midnight Show at Gilded Balloon!

More Information:

Tickets + Show Info for Edinburgh Fringe 2015 
Twisted Cabaret Website

Jo Tomalin, Ph.D. reviews Dance, Theatre & Physical Theatre Performances
More Reviews by Jo Tomalin
TWITTER @JoTomalin
www.forallevents.com  Arts & Travel Reviews