Bronx Gothic, Arts House, Melbourne Festival, Sunday October 11th 2015

Bronx Gothic, Arts House, Melbourne Festival, Sunday October 11th 2015

For those new to my blog I write about the holistic experience of attending the theatre.  So if you want a re-telling of the story please refer to the links for further information or for further insights.  Note, that I may provide different links for repeated main words or phrases.

"Bronx Gothic" was originally produced by Performance Space 122 from New York and was presented at the Arts House in North Melbourne for the Melbourne Festival.

The first thing that hits you as you walk past the billowing white curtains entering the theatre is the heat.  It is oppressively hot.  The second thing that hits you is the stale and rancid stench.  The third is a woman, Okwui Okpokwasili dancing in the far corner of the stage with her back to the audience. We were allowed into the theatre at about 4.50 pm for the 5.00 pm performance.  A lady in the front row of three rows has to leave and get water.  I can barely breath.  Is this a part of the show?  If so, it is like "1984" with the smell-o-vision.  People were trying to get comfortable and at about 4.58pm the air conditioning sounded as if it had been turned on.  I wanted to vomit and fanned myself.

The performer Okwui Okpokwasili continued to dance with her back to the audience.  The corridor lights went down outside the white billowing curtains as the music changed slightly.  To me this was the beginning of the show as prior to this was context setting and a warm up.

Well Okwui Okpokwasili continued to dance until 5.15 and the music changed again.  The audience were getting tired of this.  I think we got the point!  The sound scape changed again slightly and this continued until 5.20 pm.  Yes I was clock watching as it was so uncomfortable.  She was so physically fit to be gyrating and pulsating for what was now half an hour.  She was wet and glowing with sweat.

Maybe this long prelude was to introduce us to the theme of the show.  Maybe the smell was a coincidence.  The dancing and sweat was like a combination of an African tribal dance, sexual ritual, a trance, self absorbed and a tantric orgasm.

Many audience members were intrigued with where this dance was going.  Some people were very uncomfortable with the length of this introduction.  In hindsight I think this would have been more powerful had it been for half the length of time.  Less is more.

Okwui Okpokwasili is a brilliant story teller and introduces us to her letters that she has rewritten from memory.  She reads from these letters and embellishes upon their contents.  The letters are discarded just like rape victims can be physically discarded.  The throwing away of these letters makes the story more poignant that no one will ever be able to erase horrific memories.

A rape dance sequence was repeated about three times where she assumed various poses of sexual exploitation: on all fours, rolling over, legs up etc.  This was more effective than the opening sequence as it was succinct and ultra specific in its choreographic intention.  Her facial expressions added to her body being exploited.

The set comprised of thirteen upturned lamps with their cellophane still on the lampshades.  The largest lamp had its cupid like stand broken in two.  Was this the object that she picked up and broke? It did not matter as the lamps were used to light the stage in varying intensities.

Some of the sections of "Bronx Gothic" reminded me of "For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf" that I saw in 1976 at The Comedy Theatre. I even have the script and the original cast recording. The difference was that Okwui Okpokwasili performed as a soloist using her rich voice and brilliant physicality to bring multiple characters to life.  The other difference was that I had tears rolling down my face with some of the stories in "For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf"  while with "Bronx Gothic" I felt empathy but did not have as deep theatrical connection to the characters.

The limited humour heightened the drama by giving us some relief.  This intensifies the drama and our attention.  Various stories and memories unfold.  There was a large group of school girls in the audience and they reminded me that was about their age when I saw "For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf".

Close to the end of the show, the middle aged woman in front of me just had to check her phone for messages during a poignant moment.  How rude of her.  I was hoping for a performance distraction free of "twanking" mobile phone addicts. Sadly not.

Overall "Bronx Gothic" was a challenging show for the wrong reasons due to the oppressive environment.

I gave this performance a 7/10. My partner gave it a 4/10.