Review: “Trafford Tanzi”- A Definite A-show!

April 10, 2010April 29, 2010 krithika

April 9,2010

Grappling, booing, catcalls, cheers, lock ups, sleeper holds, a flying referee, take down, venus flytrap, countout, submission,sweat pouring down faces both on and off the ring! You are thinking of WWE RAW right? No, I wasn’t watching the WWE. I was at this true-to-life wrestling ring constructed for the Malcolm Tulip production of Claire Luckham’s play “Trafford Tanzi” at the Arthur Miller Theatre, replete with posters from the seventies and the dazzling blue lights as well as the seats arranged around the ring in true pro-wrestling style!

This play is about “Trafford Tanzi”, a girl who lives in a uncompromising and hard world where she is not allowed to pursue her dream of being a professional wrestler. It is all about how she fights (literally) her way through this. It is an interesting play where the struggles of a character are portrayed so clearly and yet subtly in a way that will make the audience feel exactly what the character feels. The essence of each character (the referee cum school psychiatrist, Platinum Sue, Tanzi’s Mum& Dad, Tanzi’s husband Dean Rebel) shows in the way each fights Tanzi. The wrestling is so important to this play. The actions speak and actually, the actors don’t really have too many lines (except for the comic and talented referee). The character’s internal conflicts are more clear and there isn’t much use of ambiguous complicated metaphors. This simplicity of showing the character’s emotions is unique and hats off to Claire Luckham for this! It is fascinating to think of life this way. Of course, this play reflects strong feminist views and Tanzi emerges the winner at the end.

As a part of the audience, you sit there and watch Tanzi getting pushed around and hit many times and when she ends as the winner, naturally you root for her. In this production, I didn’t watch a play. I was in one, watching a real fight. This ability to engage the audience completely is why Malcolm Tulip’ s production of “Trafford Tanzi” wins full points. This production has everything right. The physical element in this play is crucial to delivering its message and the actors under the tutelage of Charles Fairbanks, ( a filmmaker and wrestler who goes to the MFA program in Art and Design at Uof M) got this right! The audience were encouraged to be cheer or boo and if there had been beer, cigarette smoke and vendors with peanuts, we would have been in a real wrestling match! If one had walked in midway he/she would have assumed that it was a wrestling show. It was that good!

There were many scenes where I was extremely uncomfortable. For instance, the character Dean is in his briefs throughout the play. Even though we see a lot of nudity and of course tons of skin exposure on TV these days, this sudden encounter with a almost-naked actor felt so in-the-face and it was disconcerting initially. But I think this “costume” was quintessential to the definition of Dean’s character. The other costumes were so cleverly designed too. Tanzi’s mom wears pearls and apron over a tight swimsuit as if to show that she was a conforming shallow woman who knows that males are hypocrites but still basks under their attention.

The thuds from the numerous falls of the actors as they wrestle each other make you flinch and you want to jump up and see if the actor is alright. But then that is how the play was so realistic. The grossness quotient in this play was a lil high too. For instance scenes like a 1-year old Tanzi with her fingers full of boogers and up in her nose, like Dean pulling out hankies and flowers from his underwear- YUCK! . But this is what set the scenes where Tanzi is made to kiss the ground by her opponents apart. The hilarious (and disgusting) scenes along with the other semi-serious scenes infused realism and it seemed so genuine. I loved the fact that the actors all spoke (or as per Mr.Tulip, “tried to”) speak in pitch-perfect British accents. It added that little extra element of humor.

As for the music, Carlos Valdes was amazing. His covers for Gloria Gaynor’s”I will survive” and Beatles’ “I wanna hold your hand” were absolutely hilarious. His background score was cheeky, fun and brilliant! He has done a great job.I loved the referee’s acting (played by Torrey Wigfield). His frequent flamboyant entries like diving across the ring or in a cowboy outfit as well as his witty delivery was fun to watch. His rendition of the French song “non, je ne regretten rien” had the audience in splits. Dean Rebel, the character most booed in this play and played by Louis Marino who had to wear in a blue brief throughout, did a very confident job. His acrobatic skills and fluid movements were great too. The totally disgusting and obnoxious character of Tanzi’s Dad was portrayed perfectly by Nicholas Strauss-Matathia (his pronunciation of “buttercups” in that fake British accent had me cracking!). For this performance, the understudies Aimee Garcia and Charlotte Vaughn Raines performed the roles of Tanzi and Tanzi’s Mum respectively. Charlotte rocked the song “Stand by me” and Aimee gave a very strong performance too. The endearing (and as it turned out humorous) director Malcolm Tulip came out with the crew for the talk after the performance and this was so illuminating. This is definitely a great success for Mr. Tulip and his team.

I had read a preview for this play and the plot didn’t appeal to me. But somehow I ended up going to this play and trust me when I say this- it is one of the best all-round entertainment you can ever get. I had such a delightful time! You are entitled to one too.

Don’t forget to catch one of the following shows:

Saturday April 10 @ 8 pm or Sunday April 11 @ 2 pm @ Arthur Miller Theatre

tickets available at box office or online: http://www.music.umich.edu/performances_events/productions/09-10/trafford.htm

A delighted,

Krithika, for art[seen]

Review: Who is Anton Chekhov?

April 1, 2010April 1, 2010 krithika

March 22,2010

Ok, in today’s age, an answer to the above question is just a click away. It is convenient but do we really grasp the information? Does the life of Chekhov unfold in front of your eyes? And so the “Who is….” series from the UMS, was very informative and entertaining. And relevant. As it was looking at Chekhov’s life in order to understand more about “Uncle Vanya”.

“Who is Anton Chekhov” consisted of two parts- a presentation on Chekhov’s life by Professor Makin and a talk by Kate Mendeloff about the challenges in directing “Uncle Vanya”. There was also a scene from “Uncle Vanya”, enacted by Residential College students.

Professor Michael Makin, from the department of Slavic Studies, started this presentation on Chekhov, in his very charming accent. His delivery was quick and very erudite and it goes to show how well he knows the subject matter at hand. Anyway, so who was Anton Chekhov?

Unlike all the popular Russian writers who were counts or members of the Russian nobility, Anton Chekhov was born to a serf as the third of six surviving children. He attended a gymnasium- comparable to our English grammar school. His father went bankrupt and fled to Moscow leaving his children and wife behind. Anton joined medical school and also took over the responsibility for the whole family. To pay his tuition fess and to support his family, he wrote stories and sketches.

He became a physician and suffered from tuberculosis for a long time. Chekhov didn’t take his writing seriously until Dmitry Grigorovich, one of the leading Russian writers of the time sent him a letter telling him about his immense talent. Chekhov’s artistic ambition bloomed and he soon won a Pushkin Prize for the short-story collection- “At Dusk”. From being the son of an impoverished serf, he became a landowner when he bought the small estate of Melikhovo.

Ok, so how is this all relevant?

It is important for us to understand Chekhov as a person before we understand Chekhov as a playwright or writer- as most of who he was and what he valued can be reflected in his characters and work. Well, Chekhov wrote what he saw and about a life that he was immersed in. His writings abound with references to the simple country life and the trials faced by a Russian in those days. It is also important to understand his background as to why he stands out from among the other Russian writers.

That said, Professor Makin told us that as a playwright, Chekhov was a flop initially. His plays “the Sea Gull” and “the wood demon” were fiascos when they were first staged. To some extent, they were way ahead of their times as they lacked the melodrama. They were waiting for the right people to act and direct it. Everytime, Chekhov failed as a playwright, he threatened never to return to it. But he always came back.

The innovative Moscow Art Theatre found by Stanislavski for doing “naturalistic” theatre was what Chekhov needed. The production of “The Seagull” by Stanislavski was a huge success. Subsequently, Chekhov wrote his other plays for the Moscow Art Theatre and “Uncle Vanya” is one of them.

“Uncle Vanya” is the story of Vanya (duh!), who is the uncle of Sonya (Actually it is a cleaned-upversion of “The wood demon”). He takes care of Sonya’s farm which was bequeathed to her by her now deceased mother. The two of them send the proceeds from the farm to Professor Serebryakov. The Professor marries a woman who is very young , Elena and sicne he can’t afford to live in the city anymore, he comes back to the country estate. This arrival causes such a ruckus in the lives of Vanya and Sonya.

So the plot is about Vanya feeling that he has totally wasted his life and what he does. Why Chekhov called it a comedy is unclear. Though it has a few laughs in it, I don’t think it is comedy.

Professor Kate Mendeloff explained how Chekhov and his plays helped in actually laying out the foundation of the rules for all theatre and acting today. The techniques and methods developed by Stanislavski are taught in every drama school today.

Residential college is putting up a production of “Uncle Vanya” which Mendeloff is directing. They enacted a scene from it. It was the opening act where the “long night” where the professor keeps everyone up by his constant griping is shown. It was interesting and cleverly done.

On the whole, it was a very interesting session. It made me wonder as to how how much of the writer was in the character they created and how much of it was what the writer wanted to be.

Review: Angika- Dancing body as art!

April 1, 2010April 2, 2010 krithika 1 Comment

Angika, March 20, 2010

I managed to make it to this show and grab the last seat in the nick of time by doing a 2 min 34 second sprint from the C.C. Little Northwood bus stop to the Stern Auditorium of UMMA in 2.5 inch heels (as to why I had to sprint can be a a story of its own by itself- but then, we are not interested and so….)

Just as I caught my breath and stopped the audible panting, the lights dimmed out on a full auditorium with many people standing at the back. There was a brief introduction of “Angika” (with all the funny anglicized pronunciations of the Sanskrit words). Here’s the gist.

In Angika, the dance performed is the over 2000-year old Odissi, from East India. This dance, known for its square stance and fast feet and leg movements along with its stunning grace and sensuality was a dance that was mainly used as a means of expressing devotion. It was a means to advance in spirituality and so the themes and songs that you come across in this dance are also of this kind- devotional prayers or songs expressing love for the Divine. Sreyashi Dey, Artistic Director of Srishti Dances of India, was performing this lovely ancient dance with her students.

As the kids in the audience fretted a bit, complaining about the darkness, a clear resounding voice beckoned us, “Welcome to the temple of dance.” The voice belonged to Martin Walsh, whom I last saw as a ‘Galileo’ in the Residential College’s production of Brecht’s “Life of Galileo” in March 2009 (Mr.Walsh was brilliant as Galileo!) . Martin Walsh is head of the Drama Concentration at the Residential College and he has a perfect voice for narrating.

The words belonged to poet Zilka Joseph and she took us to a temple where we were to hear the stories of dancers as they prepared for prayer. We could smell the incense and the fragrant fresh flower garlands that they had lovingly woven. While we waited thus, the magic began.

The sound of strong tapping of feet with jingling of the bells on their anklets came first. It was followed by the dancers, looking resplendent in colorful elaborately designed Odissi costumes. In an invocation to the divine, the dancers seeked the blessings so gracefully with slow movements and a lot of poses. The effect was bewitching.

In most Indian traditional dances, the program always begins with an invocation. It could be to to Mother Earth ( it’s almost like asking her permission to dance as we do stamp the feet on ‘her’ when we dance ). Many dances also include a note of thanks to the Guru (the teacher) and the Divine.

The second dance, called the “Konark Kanti” was about the Temple of the Sun in Konark, Orissa.

In Joseph’s Poetry, she imagines that the moonlight touches the figurines on the Temple of Konark and brings them to life (like our “Night at the Museum”). These dancers start dancing and the musicians bring out their instruments and even the stars get dizzy looking at this impromptu performance. The raga (melodic mode) to which this song was set was a very pleasant one.

This dance was a wonderful one- so many moods shown clearly in expressions as well as clever variations in the choreography, as if the dancers wanted to show all the weapons in their arsenal.

The third dance, called “Manini”, the most expressive and I am sure, the most difficult one to comprehend, especially for a Western audience, was a solo by Shreyashi Dey. This song is about Lord Krishna’s beloved, Radha. She is waiting for her Lord and so she decorates herself as well as the gazebo and waits for the Lord. She is clearly happy anticipating his arrival. But as the time wears out (she in fact falls into sleep for a bit), her joy turns into despair and then anger and she flings all her jewelry and tears down the decorations. In the end, she is so dejected. you could say, “So it’s the case of a girl who has been stood up by her lover!”. You may be correct but here, “Radha” is the seeker who is searching for “the Ultimate Truth”, her lover and the story of Radha and her love are symbolic metaphors. Anyway, this piece requires perfect portrayal of the emotions that Radha goes through.

Odissi, is a dance that not only demands strength in movement, but it also requires the dancers to have good acting skills , as facial expressions are a very important part of this dance. Sreyashi Dey was absolutely brilliant in this song. The way she portrayed disappointment with trembling fingers, a heaving chest and eyes heavy with fatigue caused by unbearable sadness was brilliant. She ran through the gamut of emotions that Radha feels and at the end, when she lay on the floor in a bundle, totally dejected, you couldn’t help but reach out for her. This was a great piece.

The other two pieces were really fast and full of quick movements of both hands and feet. They demanded so much from the dancers (Kritika Rajan, Ishika Rajan and Debnita Talapatra were the other dancers from Shrishti Dances of India- they were very graceful and co-ordinated) and the stamina of these dancers as they moved through really tough pieces was something amazing. The choreography required co-ordination and you could find all the “yoga” postures from advanced yoga classes too.

Kritika Rajan, Ishika Rajan and Debnita Talapatra — Ishika Rajan, Kritika Rajan, and Debnita Talapatra

The final Pallavi was really intense as the tempo was so fast-paced and the use of space in this piece was very nicely done. The dancers were very cohesive and the symmetry of their movements was so beautiful.

So there was the really beautiful dance. There was some wonderful poetry that set the stage for these dances. Where were the sculptures? Though we saw some brilliant postures as part of the dance, somehow the message of the connection of the dance form as an inspiration to sculpture or vice versa didn’t get conveyed. Maybe this aspect could be elaborated in the next performances (which would be great!).

This was definitely a great show and the next time you get a chance to watch Odissi, please grab it.

Krithika, for [art]seen

Review: ChristianTetzlaff and the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra

March 29, 2010March 29, 2010 krithika

San Francisco Symphony- March 19,2010

They say each symphony orchestra is different than the other in many many ways. Until now, I was really into learning the basics that this concept escaped me. But when I saw the San Francisco Symphony in action, I finally got what they meant. The difference was not only in the arrangements, the music they chose but also in the way they performed as one. They were a more contained unit.

The program started with a piece called “Post-scriptum” by contemporary composer Kissine. No offense, but I didn’t like it. It had this dreading , urgent tone that was disturbing and annoying-a smorgasbord of notes (often jarring and out of place)- no rest for the musician, no rest for the listener. There was definitely an innovative use of the sounds of the entire orchestra. But the piece was abstract and felt purposeless, always aiming towards the dramatic, as if pandering to today’s love for things “abstract”. My frustration sprang from the fact that I couldn’t connect with it at all. There were “bravos” when the piece ended, to my surprise.

Intrigued by this, during the intermission, when I asked a couple of people if they liked it, one (an older person) said that it was uncomfortable and screechy) and the other (younger one) said that she had liked it for the novelty in the tempo and musical arrangement. So I guess there was a divided house, based on my pathetic sample size. <Shrug>.

But then the second piece, a definitely classic composition by Tchaikovsky, “Violin Concerto in D Major” just gave me my ticket’s worth . Listening to the violin solo felt like stepping out onto the fresh, dew-kissed grass while the smell of the earth lingers in the air after the first rain of spring. Christian Tetzlaff has perfect technique and when he plays the high notes, especially in the recurrent melody in this piece, you can’t help but bow to his bow.

The brilliant Christian Tetzlaff. Master of the bow!

This piece touched so many moods but there was no despair of non-comprehension at the end, like the first one. The compelling beauty of the violin was hard to resist. Mr. Tetzlaff totally owned the piece.

Ravel’s piece was interesting but didn’t leave me that impressed as his other works before. The Liszt work of “lament and triumph” was intriguing and sad. In this piece, I thought that the use of the trumpets and horns as ‘highlighters” in order to emphasize a musical sequence of importance was neat. It started off on a gloomy note but grew on me.

Mr.Thomas breezed through these tough compositions and everything was executed so well. I think that kind of clockwork precision comes only with amazing natural talent as well as years of practice and hardwork. Overall, it was a great show.

That night, the triangle was used maybe seven times at the max. On my way back, I was wondering what the musician who played the triangle must feel. Maybe it is pure discipline. Maybe it is the fact that they know that they are contributing, even though it is a small role. ” They also serve who only stand and wait.”

Krithika, for [art]seen

Preview: Maly Drama Theatre’s Uncle Vanya- You have to see it!

March 27, 2010March 28, 2010 krithika

This preview is different from the rest. I am going to tell you to go see the Maly Drama Theatre’s “Uncle Vanya”. But when I tell you that it is one of the most memorable and brilliant theatre performances that you will see, then I am speaking from experience as I already saw their show yesterday!

I have never seen anything like this play before. I am just so enamored of the way the play was staged, the way the characters came to life by the superb acting, the beauty of the play in its original Russian language and everything about the show that I felt that just going to one show wasn’t enough to write a review on it. So I am going again tonight.

As for the acting, it seems as if the actors were born to play the characters. The actors are just absolutely stunning. The female leads of Elena and Sonya are breath-takingly beautiful. I am just so in love with this production.

Maly Drama Theaters Uncle Vanya and Elena — Maly Drama Theatre's Uncle Vanya and Elena

Anton Chekhov,a playwright who got recognition late, got everything right in this play. I will tell ya tons and tons about this play. Just promise me that you will see it.

Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya

Maly Drama Theatre of St. Petersburg

Lev Dodin, artistic director

Saturday, March 27, 8 pm
Sunday, March 28, 2 pm
Power Center

Yous in love with Chekhov and the Maly Drama Theatre,

Krithika, for [art]seen

Preview: Who is Anton Chekhov?

March 20, 2010March 20, 2010 krithika

Next Week, “Uncle Vanya” will be performed under the auspices of UMS (more on this to come). It is a tricky and complex plot that baffles a lot of people. So getting to know its writer, Anton Chekhov, might help in our comprehension or at least make us accept the difficulty of the plot for what it is and understand why it was intended thus.

Chekhov, hailed to be among the greatest short-story writers of all time by many, was a highly cerebral artist who started writing in his spare time while training to be a physician, actually in order to make money. He continued to do so but didn’t pay much attention to writing as an art until Grigorovich, another eminent Russian writer told him that he had true talent.

Chekhov started to pay more attention to his writing and always tried to experiment and depart from the road well trodden. His stories are tedious and it was Chekhov’s conviction that a true artist raises questions that didn’t exist and it was not his onus to solve those issues. His views in his plays and stories are definitely worth a read.

At the Ann Arbor District Library (Downtown branch) this monday evening, Michael Makin, Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures, and Residential College Drama Lecturer Katherine Mendeloff will examine Chekhov’s role in Russian literature and society and as transformer and innovator of Russian drama. There will be a discussion specifically around the play “Uncle Vanya” and parts of it will be acted out by U of M students.

When I saw Prof Mendeloff’s name on the program, I knew I had seen it somewhere. I thought hard before I realised that she is the one of the key forces behind the Shakespeare in the Arb series! Every summer, a Shakespearen play is enacted at the Nichol’s arboretum and Kate Mendeloff directs the plays.

I remember attending “Twelfth Night” last summer. It suddenly started pouring and as the brave actors still got on with the show, she was with them till the end, a bit drenched though. I thought that it was so nice of the director to be through it all. Also, her direction of the plays are awesome too. It will be a treat to listen to her.

So, to summarize,

What: Who is Anton Chekhov?

Where: Downtown Library (AADL), Multi-purpose room (visit www.aadl.org for directions to the downtown library)

When: Monday, March 22, 2010, 7 pm to 8.30 pm

$$: Admission FREE!

Chekhov is said to have been among the first to use stream-of-consciousness techniques in his works. Interested to know what that is all about? See you at the AADL then !

Yours sincerely,

Krithika, for [art]seen