Kate Mulley

Last weekend I attended three very different “commercial” theatre events. Two were Broadway productions, the third a hot ticket imported from England. Each followed particular “rules” for successful commercial theatre in the 21st century and I found it to be an intriguing combination of tastes and aesthetics.

Friday night I was offered a last minute ticket to David Ives’ Venus in Fur, newly transferred to Broadway after a successful run at CSC in the spring. A two-hander about a playwright and a mysterious actress, Venus in Fur borrows its plot and character types from the Austrian novella Venus im Pelz (this is one of those times German seems so self-evident to me!) by Leopold von Sacher-Masoch. It explores the games (psychological and otherwise) that are played in romantic and sexual relationships, while also exposes “the theatre.” Nina Arianda is stunning in this play. Her energy and capability are astonishing to watch. Hugh Dancy can’t really compete with her, nor is he really allowed to. I’ve noticed that playwrights tend to get a bad rap in plays (oddly) and are always played as helpless, overly intellectual people who are blown away by larger personalities (especially actors). Whether this is intentional, it allows for a lot of very true feeling situations between the two characters and ultimately it’s an entertaining, well-performed two-hander. (The rules here are small cast, sexy subject matter, star casting.)

Saturday night I attended a special Halloween weekend performance of Punchdrunk’s Sleep No More, a production I saw in Boston almost two years ago. The audience was instructed to wear film noir clothing and everyone seemed to follow their instructions (say what you will about New Yorkers, if you tell them to dress a certain way for a cool party, they will). It was quite an experience to be surrounded by people wearing outfits that occasionally resembled actors’ costumes running around in masks. I saw a great deal that I had not seen during the performance in Boston but still felt (and I’ve said this about other Punchdrunk performances) that I was able to ‘cheat the system.’ Once you understand what they are doing, it’s very easy to tailor your own experience and not be surprised by what you see. There were two moments on Saturday night that surprised me, one was the “orgy” in the basement (I had heard of this, but not seen it last time) and when I happened upon a very large crowd watching Macbeth dancing with bricks. I think that Punchdrunk’s aesthetic is absolutely gorgeous and that their ambition is noteworthy, I’d just like to see something by them that scared me the same way that their Faust scared me 5 years ago. After the show, there was a theme dance party, which I was unfortunately to sick to stay for. It looked fun, but my throat led me home to bed and a hot toddy. (The rules here are “cool factor” (apparently a recent episode of Gossip Girl was filmed at Sleep No More), transfer from London, audience participation.)

Sunday afternoon I had the pleasure of seeing a college classmate perform the lead role in the Broadway production of Sister Act. My extreme pride for Kim completely outweighed any issues I had with the show. I found myself standing in tears at the end of the play not because of the arc of the story, but because of how amazing it was to see someone I know achieve her dream so completely. The music was catchy, the slight variations on the plot of the film were smart and the production value was high. But it remains a musical based on a film from the 90s, a very popular cash cow at the moment. (The rules here are adaptation of popular 90s film, movie star producer/cheerleader (Whoopi Goldberg, natch), disco theme/spangly overload.)

After quite some time working on my own plays and not attending shows, Halloween weekend was a good lesson in what’s being produced, what’s popular and why.

(Monday afternoon I saw a reading/workshop of a new musical, Volleygirls, and thoroughly enjoyed its originality, emphasis on the relationships on a women’s sports teams and clever humor. Keep a look out! Monday night I attended Celebrity Autobiography, which was very entertaining, especially since Florence Henderson winked at me!)

This past weekend I went to Boston to watch the Head of the Charles and catch up with old friends. I also happened to see the US premiere of Punchdrunk, the site-specific movement-based company that has caught the UK by storm.

When I arrived in London for my Masters three (!!) years ago, one of the productions we were told to see was Punchdrunk’s Faust. I had no friends in London at this point and had booked my ticket on a day that none of my coursemates had, so I headed out to an old warehouse in Wapping with my comfortable walking shoes and my warm coat, as I was instructed. The show was a complete revelation to me. I felt like a child discovering things at my own pace and enjoyed the spectacle that I was exposed to. Our class even had a session with Felix Barrett, the artistic director (who at the time was 26, which I didn’t think was young back then, now that it’s a week before my 26 year old birthday, I’ve realized it is) who spent two hours with us talking about the process, what they hoped to bring to the audience and how what we saw related to the story of Faust, but he also wanted to know what we thought, how we experienced it, what we liked and didn’t like. About a year later, Punchdrunk saved the Battersea Arts Centre from certain doom when it staged The Masque of the Red Death there and it became the must-see show of South London. When I saw Masque I was less blown away, but still impressed by the level of detail, the specificity of the choreography, the props and design and the way that audiences could follow their own interests. But I also felt as if I had figured out how to manipulate the show for my own benefit. Within 10 minutes I procured a free glass of wine and was quite pleased with myself. Once I got over my self-satisfaction, however, I delved into the production and the image I most remember is seeing a man carry what appeared to be a beating heart. Creepy, but awesome.

So when I read somewhere that Punchdrunk was coming to the American Repertory Theatre with their show Sleep No More, I jumped to get tickets. I brought along one game high school classmate and my theatrically-adventurous parents and we headed to the Old Lincoln School last night for the show. I won’t write much about it because I worry about giving things away with these shows. So much of the appeal is the act of discovery. My two pieces of advice to my theatre companions were for the four of us to to go our separate ways and also to follow actors when the opportunity presented itself. What I like the most about Punchdrunk’s work is that it doesn’t dumb itself down for the audience. You arrive with very little information and you leave with lots of details and movements to piece together. One of the best experiences is talking about what you have seen and what your theatre companions have seen and realizing what you missed, but also comprehending more of the story. After last night’s show, but before we got our coats from coat check, there was a fire drill (probably from too many fog machines). So we walked down to the fire meeting point and talked about the things that we had all seen and the things that only we had seen. My father had experienced a “one on one”, as I believe Felix referred to them three years ago, and was just astonished by it. We kept talking about the show until we got back into the building and throughout the car ride home. My father and my friend have decided they want to go back to try to see all the things they missed.

If any of you are in or near the Boston area between now and January 3rd, I highly recommend this show. It will completely change the way you view theatre and will challenge you as an audience member in ways that I promise you will enjoy. Seriously.