A nervous American wants us to know that he is an anthropologist. No, he does not have a degree “as such”, but he is learned in the study of cultures, and he has captured the essence of the most unique of European cultures, the Slovakian. Yet, the Jo Strømgren Kompani is not here to teach you something about our globalized world culture, and maybe split your sides along the way. Director/choreographer Jo Stromgren has a different take on the new global cultural awareness then most. This Norwegian writer/director of the hilarious production The European Lesson does not think we need to highlight our diversity but our similarity, and in his piece he seeks to do just that. The caricature of the American anthropologist points the finger at us, the American audience, as we see the stereotypes played out before us. Beginning as an odd lecture, the piece soon becomes about the melodrama that constitutes the lives of people everywhere. From love to betrayal, we are reminded not of a foreign, distant culture but of a play of desires, though ridiculous, painfully familiar. However, this too begins to unravel as the performance begins to fall apart piece by piece. Soon it is clear that not everyone is who they are pretending to be, or pretending to be who they are. As the line between audience and performer become blurred we are left wondering why we want the stereotype, the caricature, the ridiculous and not the reality.
This is where Jo Stromgren wants you to be, and he achieves this brilliant effect with a genre bending piece that combines dance with humor and his own strange use of faux language. You will be hearing Slovak in this performance, but the phrases were chosen at random, the meaning between them being conveyed in action and nuance and not the words themselves. Elements of the interactions of the “real Slovakians” are translated by your American cultural guide, but these do more to confuse what is happening then clarify it. The drama continues to unfold between characters but the host seems either ignorant or purposefully obscuring it. The way the underlying tension unfolds is brilliant, entertaining you with the ridiculousness of the events while subtly leading and hinting that there is more beneath the surface. Stromgren knows how to use tension, conflict, and humor to get at feelings and intuitions that dialogue might in fact miss. It is not the American identity of our ugly American host, but the way he reminds us of all of our ignorance and failings. This character is almost sympathetic in his familiarity, and yet we feel frustrated with him and the ways he has missed what is beautiful in its own right.
The European Lesson could have easily been heavy handed or preachy. However, Stromgren does not seek to pick one group or people to blame, but remind all of us of how little we know of each other. Stromgren himself grew up as a sort of international traveler, constantly moving and experiencing new places, and as a theater director has put on productions all over the world. This sense of international flavor is what drives this piece, as Stromgren draws out our stereotypes to remind us how similar we are. It is not a deep divide that separates people of a variety of ethnicities and nationalities according to this work. Rather, it is our ignorance of groups of people that causes us to assume they are so different in the first place. While the play does not eradicate differences, it reminds us through the use of these images how similar how humanity is, and how universal our communication can be.
The performances were brilliant. Every actor was amazing, bringing alternately humor and gravity to their roles, and their dancing was fun and interesting if not always technical. In fact, it was clear that the actors themselves, working with Stromgren for months, had really come to not only know their parts but feel a part of their creation. The highlight was timing, as each performance hinged less on the well delivered line but on the excessive emotions portrayed through body language and movement. This play is a feeling more then it is a thought, and this required a kinesthetic discipline and precision as it was performed.
My only concern about the piece is the ending. In a Q+A after the performance, Stromgren admitted that the ending was still in process and that it represented a desire to end in the poetic then a specific direction. While I felt I could discern purpose in elements of it, as a whole it was confounding then helpful. The choreography of the final scene is haunting, and some of the imagery left me feeling provoked, but over all I was more frustrated that such an amazing piece seemed to have no clear final statement, no final direction, just what seemed to be an explosion of images. The humor and intelligence of the piece are clear throughout, as is the purpose and message, the ambiguity of the ending did not lend a sense of mystery, which is what I suspect was the idea. Instead it left a feeling of frustration that such a well put together work would end seeming so haphazard. I found myself wondering if they had simply found a dramatic impasse and then looked to a cataclysmic event to get them out of it. That critique aside, The European Lesson was one of the most entertaining and thought provoking experiences I have ever had in the theater and I hope you will go and experience it for yourself. Perhaps you will be able to make sense of an ending that I was left bemused by.
-liam O
For more information on this artist, click here.
This is where Jo Stromgren wants you to be, and he achieves this brilliant effect with a genre bending piece that combines dance with humor and his own strange use of faux language. You will be hearing Slovak in this performance, but the phrases were chosen at random, the meaning between them being conveyed in action and nuance and not the words themselves. Elements of the interactions of the “real Slovakians” are translated by your American cultural guide, but these do more to confuse what is happening then clarify it. The drama continues to unfold between characters but the host seems either ignorant or purposefully obscuring it. The way the underlying tension unfolds is brilliant, entertaining you with the ridiculousness of the events while subtly leading and hinting that there is more beneath the surface. Stromgren knows how to use tension, conflict, and humor to get at feelings and intuitions that dialogue might in fact miss. It is not the American identity of our ugly American host, but the way he reminds us of all of our ignorance and failings. This character is almost sympathetic in his familiarity, and yet we feel frustrated with him and the ways he has missed what is beautiful in its own right.
The European Lesson could have easily been heavy handed or preachy. However, Stromgren does not seek to pick one group or people to blame, but remind all of us of how little we know of each other. Stromgren himself grew up as a sort of international traveler, constantly moving and experiencing new places, and as a theater director has put on productions all over the world. This sense of international flavor is what drives this piece, as Stromgren draws out our stereotypes to remind us how similar we are. It is not a deep divide that separates people of a variety of ethnicities and nationalities according to this work. Rather, it is our ignorance of groups of people that causes us to assume they are so different in the first place. While the play does not eradicate differences, it reminds us through the use of these images how similar how humanity is, and how universal our communication can be.
The performances were brilliant. Every actor was amazing, bringing alternately humor and gravity to their roles, and their dancing was fun and interesting if not always technical. In fact, it was clear that the actors themselves, working with Stromgren for months, had really come to not only know their parts but feel a part of their creation. The highlight was timing, as each performance hinged less on the well delivered line but on the excessive emotions portrayed through body language and movement. This play is a feeling more then it is a thought, and this required a kinesthetic discipline and precision as it was performed.
My only concern about the piece is the ending. In a Q+A after the performance, Stromgren admitted that the ending was still in process and that it represented a desire to end in the poetic then a specific direction. While I felt I could discern purpose in elements of it, as a whole it was confounding then helpful. The choreography of the final scene is haunting, and some of the imagery left me feeling provoked, but over all I was more frustrated that such an amazing piece seemed to have no clear final statement, no final direction, just what seemed to be an explosion of images. The humor and intelligence of the piece are clear throughout, as is the purpose and message, the ambiguity of the ending did not lend a sense of mystery, which is what I suspect was the idea. Instead it left a feeling of frustration that such a well put together work would end seeming so haphazard. I found myself wondering if they had simply found a dramatic impasse and then looked to a cataclysmic event to get them out of it. That critique aside, The European Lesson was one of the most entertaining and thought provoking experiences I have ever had in the theater and I hope you will go and experience it for yourself. Perhaps you will be able to make sense of an ending that I was left bemused by.
-liam O
For more information on this artist, click here.
1 comment:
The correct term is 'Slovak' people, not 'Slovakian' people.
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