By: David de Young
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| Jeremy Catteron in Tenebrism - Photo by Stacy Schwartz |
“Tenebrism” is an art term referring to a style of painting practiced by Caravaggio that uses violent contrasts of light and dark to create a mood. Taking a page from this tradition, LLWL’s production is likely to both offend you and have you falling off your chair laughing, probably at the same time. The play also leveraged this light/dark contrast in how the show was lit, primarily by floor Lamps, often shown on the faces of the cast members from the top, bottom or side. Despite its nuttiness, the play’s somber and depressing ending leaves you feeling that overall it is a serious piece. Its ending also redeemed the show (in my mind) -- poking fun at cult figure Ian Curtis. (I had no issues with the comedy that revolved around the life of Jesus.)
The two person show features Catterton in a central role. The vast majority of the dialogue consists of Catterton’s unnamed character in monologue while Deis plays a supporting role as his lackadaisical assistant and keyboard player. The show is framed in the context of actors putting on a show; a “play within a play” so to speak, and a miserably bad one at that, complete with equipment failures, tangled cords, late entrances and cell phones ringing (and being answered) on stage. I noted that when mimicking bad acting, it has to be done well or the whole thing will fall flat on its face.
After Catterton has started the show without Deis because she’s late, she finally makes a disruptive entrance. With a cooler of beer! The action then unfolds as Catterton re-enacts scenes from The Last Temptation of Christ that include a delightful bit where the “talons of God” cause Jesus to have epileptic fits. For the Joy Division segment, he re-enacts an Ian Curtis seizure as the band drives home from a gig.
Are epileptic seizures funny? No, but they can be unsettling, and the gratuitous idiocy of making Curtis’s seizures the focus of his biopic was the clearly point here, or at least the one I took away with me. The bit concludes with Catterton saying Ian Curtis was “just a guy…who had epilepsy… who committed suicide.” This same description had me almost in tears when applied word for word later to Jesus Christ.
Catterton claims the “educational bit” that closes the show is to show the audience that the performers are “worth our salt.” It revolves around renaissance painter Caravaggio and has the duo working through audio-visual commentary on Caravaggio’s paintings “Boy Bitten by a Lizard,” “Doubting Thomas” (which they referred to as “The vaginal wound of Jesus Christ”) and the “Inspiration of St. Mathew.”
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| Jayne Deis in Tenebrism - Schwartz |
Fans of more traditionally-structured theater may not be thrilled by the informality and edginess of this dark farce, but I really enjoyed it.
Tenebrism runs through September 27th and includes an introductory piece by Carl Swanson called “Response too long for the deaf man on the train,” a dramatic storytelling of a train trip he took as an art student from Barcelona to Florence and his interactions with a deaf French Algerian.
The audience is invited to stick around after the production and listen to a local band. This week’s include Lucy Michelle and the Velvet Lapelles, Luc The Drifter and The Guystorm. More info at http://www.myspace.com/lamblayswithlion.
Location Info:
The Sound Gallery
Artist Info: Lamb Lays with Lion
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