LIVE THEATRE

CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE, THE PLAY! from twinhead theatre played all weekend to full houses at the altered eyedrum space. because I was working the event, worried about the financial survival of the old eye, I saw the play 4 times, delightfully.

I must say that theatre productions are the things I have enjoyed the best at eyedrum this year.

a particular brand of atl actors keep showing up at eyedrum and bring a unique spirit to the place. this excites me. the play has multiple potential outcomes, was written and directed by quorum and as steve westdahl noted. . .the backstack area was equal in volume to the front stage.

I laughed out loud. . .I could tell the audience enjoyed the baffoonery, the un-pc costumes, the ridiculous adult content, the bad puns. it's my complaint that theatre in atlanta too often resorts to slapstick humor, which generally bores the shit out of me: it's a 2 year old standing up and falling down continuously cracking itself up while everyone watches laboriously. but the twinhead humor was more characer driven, although plenty juvenile, and the acting was generally very good, very direct. at times the content went beyond low-end entertainment and humorous mockery. . . it made comment on fundamentalist religion, the numbskull humanity of our historical past, misuse of power, fertility of high technology, and the tedious, random role of choicemaking in our contemporary existence.

again, talking to steve westdahl, the man with the best mustache in atlanta (he also makes a damn good clown, and does good yard art ). . .we mentioned the "downturn" (that much lighter, less permanant economic burp, not to be confused with a full blown culture-changing economic depression. . .) and its effect on local arts. we need art more now than ever, to be a relief from the professional reality of a "downturned" economy. . .and a reason to gather together under the protective distracting umbrella of human creativity. steve seems to think that this atmosphere of penny-pinching and economic stress will trigger a return to affordable art, out of necessity. . .of course, he's an actor, and is seeing how affordable local theatre has a new role to play. fine art may be a different story (more on that later). . .and frankly I'm inclined to jump on the bandwagon of artistic fiction (live theatre) for a while. I can see that it suits our times very well.


-kt