The Levity of Lithium Review

Here is round one of BSM's scoop of the Live Arts/Philly Fringe Festival!
Becca went to see The Levity of Lithium last week and here's her take:

The Levity of Lithium is a one-woman play written and performed by poet Emily Epler. Epler has been dealing with bipolar for several years, but the play itself is based around a particularly intense episode she experienced in 2005.
Lithium is a fairly standard chemical used to treat certain kinds of depression as well as bipolar disorder. It is a salt, strictly speaking, but too little or too much in the body’s chemical make up can result in serious illnesses, including bipolar disorder.

I walked into my first Philly Fringe Arts Show not quite knowing what to expect. The theater space was in a large room that usually functions as an art gallery—white walls, high ceilings, track lighting. A red curtain strung across a pipe served as the divider between audience and performance. On the stage was a keyboard, a poster of the seven chakras, a dressing table and mirror with three styrofoam heads, each displaying a different colored wig: brunette, blonde, and violet. Epler had one stagehand who handed her the mic, played songs from a small CD player, and shifted props between acts. This humble set up evoked a sense of simplicity.

The show started with Epler setting the stage of her episode in 2005: she reminded the audience of certain world events at the time, and then went on to paint the picture of her reality that year. Epler’s skill as a word-painter poet was showcased in her ability to describe her mania. Her metaphors for the chaotic feelings experienced during a manic cycle of bipolar were beautiful and insightful. The piece as a whole was also woven through with a strong streak of vulnerability and authenticity—it was clear that she had expended a great deal of energy and thought into writing the piece, and that same intensity and energy was apparent in her performance. The piece was composed of her poems, commentary, dance, and an original song. Each act moved back and forth between these dynamics in various ways: at times quickly, occasionally organically, and sometimes awkwardly. Epler took the audience along with her through the rabbit holes of her manic episode and her recovery as she went back on her meds and stabilized, recounting various dating escapades, relationships, and spiritual explorations along the way. Her poems throughout the piece were well-written and insightful, and would have benefited from a slower reading.

Although Epler is talented at using details to make a scene, experience, or image palpably present to the audience, the piece as a whole lacked structure and clarity of movement. Epler’s nerves were apparent throughout the piece, and although completely understandable, they distracted the audience from the content of the piece. At one point Epler described the feeling of entering into a manic cycle as “becoming an espresso version of yourself”. The piece in and of itself exuded this very dynamic, leaving this particular audience member feeling as if I’d experienced a manic episode myself.

The part that remains jarring, however, is that I doubt this was Epler’s intention. She seemed to want to educate and paint a picture of her experience; but a certain amount of distance is required for the audience to begin to make sense of Epler’s experience as one of countless others’. As someone who is passionate about breaking down taboos related to mental illness, I think helping others step into the shoes of those with mental illness is extremely important. But if audience members are left on the other side of a manic whirlwind with no framework for incorporating that experience with their own experiences, real education is not actually taking place. If Epler had presented her piece the other way around, that is, if she had described the piece as a dry, factual, and extremely structured step by step walk through a manic episode and then presented the information in an ‘espresso version’ manner, perhaps this would have been more effective. Audience members would be informed factually, artistically, and experientially.

As it stands it is an energetically performed piece, marked by authenticity and vulnerability, and ultimately lacking in cohesiveness.
~Becca Blake

This show is still running! Check it out: Pageant: Soloveev 607 Bainbridge St. 9/5/08 and 9/6/08 @ 8 p.m. $15