Loom Ensemble's Dubai-based cohort returned to the city this month after half a year away, to begin a residency of performance and workshops at thejamjar. The fruits of their Art Monastery residency in Italy during their time away, which they refined over an international tour, premiered at thejamjar this weekend as a contemporary theatre performance they call "Prime".
The central theme of the performance is a relationship that becomes increasingly tempestuous as one of the two characters, played by Neva Cockrell, finds herself unable to relate to her partner, played by Raphael Sacks. The tension and lack of meaningful communication in their relationship is portrayed using an array of visual, verbal, physical and vocal metaphors -- some with more than one dimension of allusion.
The play features beautiful choreography and appropriate pacing, with some particularly interesting motifs expressed through color and clothing. A keen observer will notice a few internal cross-references in the narrative, and see aspects of the broader themes in seemingly mundane actions or words. Much is also added by the tactical lighting and playback sound, which were technically executed very well.
The many questions and interpretations from audience members were addressed during the short discussion session that followed, in which the inspirations and process behind the project were also described.
Being offered a part in this project came as a bit of a surprise. But knowing that Draupadi - The Voice of Dignity involved the Malhaar Choir, Loom Ensemble, and Third Half Theatre, it was not hard to say "yes". It also helped that I was several weeks into a Mahabharata mythos geek trip.
Although I, as a cast member, repeatedly witness their performances, the choir has me rapt each time we do a run-through. The instrumental array features Indian classical music instruments together with electric guitar, synth keyboard and cajon, producing hypnotic music that straddles West and East. The singing is rousing and spellbinding (a couple have become the earworms of the month), and the dancers make their well-practiced skill seem almost effortless in mesmerizing choreography; listening to the choir and watching the dance makes the countless hours of rehearsal feel not as long.
Thanks to Third Half Theatre and Loom Ensemble, these song, music and dance segments are interspersed and framed with an English-scripted philosophical/magical story that references the epic, along with contemporary dance and physical theatre.
As for my role, I don't want to give away details, except that watching fidgety me hold still for minutes at a time is in itself a spectacle. I have never done anything in this particular style of theatre, but we have a supportive and enthusiastic team. Therefore, I have high expectations of a grand performance, especially extrapolating what I have glimpsed of the production aspects.
The play stages on May 23rd/Fri and 24th/Sat, 7:30pm, at Madinat Theatre. There are a few tickets still on sale, and they can be purchased at timeouttickets.com or at the Madinat Theatre's offline box office.
Visiting Loom Ensemble members Sasha Bogdanowitsch and Michael Bauer joined their now Dubai-based fellow members Raphael Sacks and Neva Cockrell at thejamjar, staging their experimental play Say I Am You for the first time here. While the Dubai-based members have been running workshops and short public performances at the same venue for some time now, this marks their debut feature play in the UAE, and is a testament to the potential of online collaboration in theatre production.
We have had plays in the genre in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, including ones featuring dance, but the ensemble brought in something fresh with laudable integration of excellent synchronized singing, and live music performance by actors who often made use of unconventional instruments like panpipes.
Multiple stories taking place in different times and places took turns onstage as they interwove on approach to a shared conclusion. Some of the cast play roles in different stories, so there had to be a lot of quick costume changes. I think the play's greatest strength is the colorful and well-written characters, along with some memorable bits of dialogue for those paying close attention. Michael's performance was especially commendable. I also liked the light use of props (which included visual projection, symbolic objects and found objects), and the use of lighting. A new semi-stepped seating arrangement greatly helped with the visibility of lower parts of stage space. After the show, the Q&A session with the cast and director answered many of our burning questions.
A couple of days later, performing as the Loom Vocal Trio at The Fridge's Fridge Concert Series, Sasha and Raphael sang together with Kate Hamilton, who also directed Say I Am You, and is herself a rather talented singer. Much of the music that night was composed by Sasha too, with cryptic and elemental lyrics sung in forms somewhere between monastic chanting and communal tribal song. Some of the instruments from the play were used in this concert, including a jaw harp in a mesmerizing solo by Sasha.
After my third foiled attempt at attending the monthly "Theatre-making" workshops by Dubai performing arts newcomers, Loom Ensemble, I was determined to not miss the post-workshop performance. I saw a little snippet of it at thejamjar at the end of one of 3rd Mondays' August event, so I was curious to see how it was progressing. Chart course to Dubai, warp 9.
The performance is, after all, an evolving work, and the first I've seen in Dubai to follow a prototyping model with public participation. And we did have an open chat right after with the Ensemble's Raphael Sacks and Neva Cockrell, who were also the sole performers of the piece.
The contemporary play, titled Burning Fresh began with a preview of a song segment and dance segment from later in the play. Moving along, it incorporated a lot of mime, dance and physical theatre around the lines, punctuated by haunting a capella singing, occasionally with sometimes-awkward audience participation. The latter, along with the extent to which the performance should or should not develop its story (yes, it has one) were debated after the performance, among other topics. The play is not due to be staged for a few more months, so it will surely see some more moulding and whittling before then.
