| Advertisement |
|
|
|
McMaster Summer Performance Festival
|
by
Katie Penrose
September 9 - 15, 2010 |
I remember my mom taking me to university plays when I was a kid, and afterwards thinking to my wee self, “Wow! Amazing what these hot, funny adults can do.” Well I’m almost 30 and they’re still having the same effect.
The buzz of youth crackles with delight at the beginning of each school year, and provides plenty of fertile ground for artistic creativity. Capitalizing on this dynamic, the McMaster Summer Performance Festival presents three plays uninhibited by typical actor/audience relationships. In fact, the festival was created for the purpose of exploring new performance styles, particularly those that challenge norms and spur fresh ideas for communicating art.
If unorthodox interplay and spontaneity mingle in the foreground of these presentations, it remains true that each performer must hold to their intended persona, and must seek to derive the same meaning one way or another. Each performance will thus turn out differently and the separate nuance will depend upon the unique physical circumstances.
First up is a bold stab at performance art. Grey, directed by Bradley High, is a stylistic collaboration of images and portrayals inspired by Oscar Wilde’s novel The Picture of Dorian Grey. Debuting next Tuesday at 6pm in an as–yet–undisclosed outdoor location (you’ll have to check the website for details), this piece will require the audience to keep pace as it changes locations across campus.
Bradley High, who co–created the Summer Performance Festival last year and is currently the festival’s artistic director, explains his intentions about how his show will work. “[In performance art] individual performers don’t traditionally work together; they function in the same space in isolation, but compliment each other. [In Grey] there is potential for unintended audience members, so in each show there will be a different quality of reaction. The performers have created a ‘persona’ with which to explore the concepts.”
Chocked full of interesting themes, The Picture of Dorian Grey is about a young man so devoted to garnering new experiences that he has little regard for conventional morality or consequences. Expect startlingly raw visuals from this young group, and tangible electricity. Pay–what–you–can.
Debuting next Thursday at 8pm in the Robinson Memorial Theatre is a double bill featuring Mac professor Dr. Jeffrey Donaldson’s The Last Session and Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Tickets for these nights $10.
A one–woman show, The Last Session is an interpretation of a poem based on the imagined story of Freud’s final psychiatric appointment. According to High, director Ryan Trepanier has brought to life a truly interesting staging concept, wherein a non–traditional, distinct separation between performer and audience is created. “The staging is what makes it so exciting,” bubbles High. Not a Freudian slip here: I’m titillated.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream will also blur the traditional audience/actor relationship, in this case by attempting to break down the common divide. Directors Monica Cairney (fresh from a highly applauded Hamilton Fringe play) and Ashley McAskill have created a dynamic that, according to High, will prove not only entertaining, but also potentially challenging to the audience. This sounds like high fun potential, not to mention that the play itself is a classic favourite. In fact, it was one of the first my mom took me to at Mac so many years ago. I envy the children who will see this performance – what an impact it shall have! I can only imagine.
McMaster’s Summer Performance Festival is a one–of–a–kind theatre opportunity, so take advantage. Nowhere but a university will you find such beauty, rich emotionality and unharnessed enthusiasm; these things simply collect among students in their creative habitat. Their outside the box approach to performance style is just more cause for celebration, and that is exactly what these shows will be! Yours to experience.V
McMaster Summer Performance Festival
@ The Robinson Memorial Theatre (Chester New Hall 103),
McMaster Campus.
September 14 to 18.
summerperformancefestival.wordpress.com
|
Share on
 |
Well put. The participants deserve this kind of encouraging stimulation.
Posted by Tom Mackan on September 09, 2010 at 12:56pm | Report this comment
|
