Dreamweaver – A Multimedia Performance
[Bermuda Festival Review: Dreamweaver, A Multimedia Performance by Alan C. Smith]
I’m a bit of a nerd with a touch of fanboy so “DreamWeaver: a multimedia performance” was the Bermuda Festival offering I was most anticipating this year. I love gutsy and provocative, well-executed art and theatre but I am intrigued and excited by how layers of modern technology can enhance performances, magnify themes and add textures. I enjoy having my emotions manipulated by purposeful imagistic and sonic juxtaposition.
The film, Natural Born Killers, is one of my favorites because of its dizzying onslaught of bizarre, disturbing and humorous images and the clear intention of the director to orchestrate emotions and provoke deep reactions.
All I needed to hear about Dreamweaver was that it was multimedia theatre and I was sold. I purposely did not read anything about it prior to attending the opening night because I wanted to be in full-on discovery mode; fully open to surprises and empty of expectations.
The latter was not achieved. I was full of expectations and therefore more likely to be disappointed. Perhaps a bit of knowledge might have changed that but the snippets of conversation and reading out loud from the programme (Who does that?) of members of the expectant audience only served to elevate my expectations.
The set was certainly promising, with its five flat-screen displays. The centre one was huge and right at the back of the stage. The other four were downstage front on tripods, with one pair slightly larger than the other. Centre stage there was a low rise with a radio deejay desk and microphone bathed in two celestial blue spots from above. At the very front of the stage, right, there was an “On Air” sign.
An especially appealing early image was of rolling nighttime clouds on a moonlit cityscape that seemed to flow right into the theatre because of smoke or dust that could be seen illuminated above on the stage.
A surprisingly seamless combination of theatre and film, DreamWeaver tells of a disgraced smooth-talking New York DJ called “the Nightfly” who reads poetry, prose and philosophy to his fans. He falls asleep at the desk and through some cosmic/metaphysical glitch his dream-visions are broadcast and shared with a group of seemingly unconnected listeners. The all, however, share a connection with the DJ because of his new age radio show.
The listeners appeared on the four smaller screens in their own settings and comprised of filmed actors. The characters were a woman bitterly lamenting a lover who left her, a young couple, a taxi-driver, a prostitute and a critic.
The interactions between the Nightfly, played by writer, composer, director and performer, David Chocron, were perfectly timed and even though the other actors were all pre-filmed it all seemed to be happening live. Characterizations were solid, especially that of the actor who played the taxi-driver, but initially the stage-acting performance style of the filmed actors was distracting. This, I am sure, was simply because we are used to more naturalistic, subtle performances on screen. Once I got used to it I could see that the acting style complimented that of the sole live stage performer and made the experience all the more believable.
The interactions between the listeners were so well-timed that it was easy to forget that the actors were all filmed separately. The directing and editing is to be commended.
Dream images filled the screens and were projected on the walls in the theatre so that the audience was also immersed in the dreamscape. The use of moving and still images that were both real and surreal, music, spoken word, rap and song stimulated the senses without overwhelming. It was all very well conceived.
The interaction between Chocron and his filmed actors kept reminding me of Pee Wee Herman. I mean that in the best way. I was a big fan of the Pee Wee Herman show and he often had segments with broadly drawn characters on screens.
Work like this, because of the use of changing imagery, also invites the audience members to make their own imagery associations. I thought of many of the lives that celebrities of any sort, from Youtube bloggers to recording stars, affect with their words and images so much so that fans feel a certain measure of ownership.
I will not go too much into the plot because this really is an experience worth discovering on one’s own. There are themes of self-discovery and escapism, honesty and responsibility to others. There are familiar parables related in modern context. There are uplifting fairytale resolutions to a couple of the interrelated narratives.
I kept feeling that younger people, of 16 – 30 or so, would really enjoy the performance.
The piece at its core explores storytelling, from ancient oral tradition to modern image-laden tales relayed to our generation with its short attention span. It is also about honesty and truth.
In the essential moment of truth all of the screens were blanked, the music and extra voices stopped so that the DJ and story teller could just relay a simple story. It was a dramatic portion that contrasted nicely to what came before.
What followed was the explosion of visuals that I had expected from the start. As the DJ was waving a wand the visual spectacle recalled the Disney cartoon classic Fantasia for me.
Dreamweaver is a very ambitious project and displays considerable mastery, competence and innovation. I can recommend it as a must see for anyone looking for a new theatrical experience. I enjoyed it for that precise reason. And perhaps it garners exactly the reactions that it is designed to elicit.
For my personal tastes, it did not make the impact that it could have. I was left a bit unmoved despite the empowering messages and universal truths. There were a number of stories relayed but all with a superficiality that did not quite resonate with me.
Chocron’s performance, albeit capably acted and serviceably sung, did not seem to come from much deeper than his training.
I can certainly relate. Pulling off something of that magnitude technically can leave one a bit challenged when it comes to mining those emotional depths and leave little time for finding nuance.
I did enjoy the singular experience and I would welcome the opportunity to see it again to see if it begins to realize more of its substantial potential.
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