Sat through a 90-minute visual arts screening, light show or film, if you prefer, and it completely flew over my head. To me, it tried to get at themes obscure af. ‘Fever Room’ is too edgy and independent for me. Even after reading the show’s synopsis, I had no idea what the heck was going on.
To begin with, the organizers should not have used 'Free Seating'. On their SISTIC event page, they should have stated 'Free Seating on the Floor' and 'Limited Seats Available'. There were probably about 40 plastic chairs, and 100 people sat on the floor. I can understand the director's intention, and the seating works for the purpose of the performance, but the element of surprise and immersion wasn't welcomed by the friends and I. This show/performance didn’t bother to tell people upon the purchase of tickets that it doesn't cater to people with injuries, older folks with bad backs and necks, and creaky knees and hips. Or it was precisely meant to make people feel the discomfort that the director intended to portray.
Tried to make sense of the storyline in the first 30 minutes. So yeah, there were kinda two characters sleeping or in a coma either at home or in hospital or whatever, but their cryptic lines didn't convey clarity. Then the show tried to smoke me to death in the last thirty minutes during the sound and light play. It was quite a stunning technical choreography. That smoke machine was nuts though. We must be being punished or coerced to feel what the humans in the vague storyline felt. I didn't know what to think.
Are we in their dreams? Are we in The Upside Down? Are we drowning in the sea? Are we being beamed up to be abducted by aliens? Can I go back to watching X-Files S11 now?
One either gets a show or not. It is subjective. Many did get this one and enjoyed it. Tonight, I didn’t get it. I'm deliberately not saying the director’s name. But if you really want to know, here's the giant clue to further googling- I quite enjoyed the director's 'Tropical Malady' (2004); and for all its critical acclaim in the international indie film circuit, I didn't like 'Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives' (2010). Tonight’s performance was a very tedious presentation to sit through. I paid for my ticket, by the way. If theatre has a preferred type of audience, then obviously, I'm too pleb for this.
To begin with, the organizers should not have used 'Free Seating'. On their SISTIC event page, they should have stated 'Free Seating on the Floor' and 'Limited Seats Available'. There were probably about 40 plastic chairs, and 100 people sat on the floor. I can understand the director's intention, and the seating works for the purpose of the performance, but the element of surprise and immersion wasn't welcomed by the friends and I. This show/performance didn’t bother to tell people upon the purchase of tickets that it doesn't cater to people with injuries, older folks with bad backs and necks, and creaky knees and hips. Or it was precisely meant to make people feel the discomfort that the director intended to portray.
Tried to make sense of the storyline in the first 30 minutes. So yeah, there were kinda two characters sleeping or in a coma either at home or in hospital or whatever, but their cryptic lines didn't convey clarity. Then the show tried to smoke me to death in the last thirty minutes during the sound and light play. It was quite a stunning technical choreography. That smoke machine was nuts though. We must be being punished or coerced to feel what the humans in the vague storyline felt. I didn't know what to think.
Are we in their dreams? Are we in The Upside Down? Are we drowning in the sea? Are we being beamed up to be abducted by aliens? Can I go back to watching X-Files S11 now?
One either gets a show or not. It is subjective. Many did get this one and enjoyed it. Tonight, I didn’t get it. I'm deliberately not saying the director’s name. But if you really want to know, here's the giant clue to further googling- I quite enjoyed the director's 'Tropical Malady' (2004); and for all its critical acclaim in the international indie film circuit, I didn't like 'Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives' (2010). Tonight’s performance was a very tedious presentation to sit through. I paid for my ticket, by the way. If theatre has a preferred type of audience, then obviously, I'm too pleb for this.
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