Thursday 9 October 2008

SHUNT LOUNGE October 9, 2008 @ The Vaults, London









SHUNT LOUNGE

Shunt Vaults, London Bridge
October 9, 2008

What If?
Created and Directed By Shunt Artist Layla Rosa
With: Geneva Foster-Gluck, Virginia Fernandez de Gamboa, Layla Rosa

"What if?...My eyes never see what your eyes see?"is the question raised by this tight ensemble of women over the course of Layla Rosa's nightmarish odyssey What If?


Audiences are encouraged to walk around the full space, throughout the magnificent railway arches that bless the Shunt arena, touch the ropes hanging ominously from 20-odd feet about our heads, do anything but sit down immediately. This is a brilliant touch, because if I had not done do before taking my seat, I may have doubted that anything before me was a reality. Maybe it was too late for me to be there, maybe I had had too much to drink, but nothing could have prepared me for the acid experience that awaited me.

Women in full Chadors perform ariel acts that blur the lines between circus act and snuff film. A "striptease" removal of veil upon veil...upon veil...reveals new, sexy, and sarcastic boundaries. We are both relieved and terrified when we realize that we have finally come to some real flesh-- the eyes! Eyes that speak volumes and lips that are never seen and say nothing, except perhaps to sing a caberet song ('Night and Day' was it? So startling was the experience that it didn't even matter- I cannot forget the chills on the back of the neck to hear this deep sexy voice through the layers of cloth.)

"What A Wonderful World" sings Louis Armstrong as our arielist swings (joyfully? girlishly?) from her rope high above us. She may continue to swing happily when we go to black, or she may simply hang herself. Either ending would be appropriate to this fevered trip.

I certainly cannot be sure that my eyes and ears took in the same performance that the man sitting next to me, in front of me or behind me did. What a wonderful world, indeed.




2 comments:

Ian R. Crawford said...

Heidi!! the shunt vaults are soooo amazing! i saw tropicana there years ago and have been obsessed (read: on their mailing list) ever since. I so wish i could be exploring London with you! (read: can i crash on your couch sometime soon?) xoxoxo love you so much, so glad you are blogging! cant wait to keep abrest of your goings on you dramturd, you.

Ian R. Crawford said...

Heidi!! its so great to see you found Shunt vaults. i saw Tropicana there years ago and have been obsessed (read: on their mailing list) ever since. I cant wish i were exploring the coolest parts of london with you on a daily basis (read: when can i come crash on your couch for a week?) xoxoxo love you so much have a blast talk soon!!

Ian