'I'll try anything once, twice if I like it,
three times to make sure' - Mae West
Last night I went to the second-last performance of The Drag, an environmental-theatre production at Interaccess by the AmmoFactory collective - which just happened to include lead actress Amy Bowles (of Pony Da Look and Permafrown) as well as Alex Wolfson (Domaine d'Or) (directing, I believe), along with a soundscape by Matt Smith (Nifty, Awesome, Wyrd Visions) and Jonathan Adjemian (Jon Rae and the River, Hoover Party), costumes by Vanessa Fischer (No Dynamics, Domaine d'Or) - a passel of Toronto-music-scene folks, in other words. Among the statements in the wall-mounted program was that the group wants to see theatre take its place in the vibrant community action in other arts in the city - and lord knows that except for Mammalian Diving Reflex, it really hasn't. This production, which takes place all over the I/A space, with the audience following the action around the room, is a pretty impressive piece of multimedia, if not an entirely successful exploration of its intended themes around how sexual repression in North America has shifted since Mae West wrote the original The Drag, a groundbreaking exposure of homosexuality on the New York stage. It mixes bits of the original play with scenes from the lives of Wilhelm Reich, Roman Polanski, the son of Charlie Manson, and several others. Whenever Bowles is performing it's arresting, and aside from that the soundscape is terrific, and some of the scenes and video work are quite fine. I'd kind of been hoping for more of a full-scale Wooster Group-style extravaganza, and it didn't get there - it could have used a few more twists and a heap more of West's own sass. But it's a must for Bowles fans and well worthwhile for anyone who'd just like to see another side of the creative team involved - other ways of working than just being in bands and so on. The final performance is tonight (Wed.) at 9 pm.
| Posted by zoilus on Wednesday, August 23 at 2:40 AM | Linking Posts | Comments (1)
COMMENTS
Hey Carl --
thanks for coming, and for your kind words; and it's good to hear your thoughts; I hope we can talk more sometime. for the record:
a) Alex co-directed (& co-scripted) the show with Liz Peterson (who was the gorgeous small woman running lights)
b) Matt did the audio score -- I only guested on amy's first & third songs, as did Doug Tielli. The songs were co-written by Matt & Amy, Matt wrote the rest.
credit where credit's due.
I came on board late, and have grown to really love the quietness of the show -- although I'm sure there will be wooster-esque blowouts in the future.
Posted by Jonathan on August 23, 2006 3:55 PM