By Ed Malin
Untitled Theatre Collective has brought An Evening Conference On Feminism & Equality At Large At The Fantabulosa Esoteric Cabaret Dada to Frigid NY. It is 100 years and counting since Dada emerged in Switzerland as an avant-garde response to the horrors of World War I and bourgeois life. This show is written and directed by Lucca Damilano (using original Dada texts, I should add) and stars five provocatively made-up female performers: Alexa Welsh, Belinda Adam, Sarah Gwynne Walker, Talia Moreta, and Lorraine Tai. Moreta and Tai provided the choreography which invigorates this pageant of poetry and obscenities. I was quite intrigued by this production, which channels the irrationality of Dada the way I suspect the troupe does on a regular basis, judging by its name.
In the darkness of the theater, a gunshot is heard. Thus we begin with classic references to Dada, the anger, the spontaneity, the resistance to all that had come before. The five female performers spend the next hour in verbal battles (or simultaneous reciting of key texts), singing and dance. In the background can be seen hypnotic, oscillating images, including several poems by Marcel Duchamp arranged in rotating form. Over Ravel’s 1928 composition “Bolero”, the cast recites Hugo Ball’s Dada Manifesto. The original texts are not credited. The show states it focuses on the “female innovators” of Dada, so I would definitely have liked to hear more about their contributions to this piece. The finale, a song with the refrain “Patience is a Virgin”, felt fresh and urgent. Did a woman write this intriguing song?
I happen to know that Emmy Hennings (wife of Hugo Ball) and Sophie Taeuber (wife of Jean Arp) were major players in the movement. The odds are that they came up with all the ideas. I am craving such clarity. The current Francis Picabia exhibition at the MoMA includes two films from the era which do not empower women at all. However, MoMA’s recent Dadaglobe exhibition suggests that Tristan Tzara’s circle was more accepting of women who wanted to destroy complacency. (“A prison is not a prison if you want to be there.”)
The show continues with a face-off between a Singer sewing machine and the best in typewriters. A recipe featuring bulghur wheat contrasts with more stream-of-conscious poetry. We even get to hear someone’s view that bad art is not the issue, rather bourgeois oversimplification. At the very end, the cast consult the show program and applaud as though they had just seen the show.
An Evening Conference On Feminism & Equality At Large At The Fantabulosa Esoteric Cabaret Dada is a brave and fascinating evening of theater. Given the collapse of our world order, we may need the lessons of this movement. I hope this show inspires more interest in revolutionary art from the women of the famous Cabaret Voltaire and beyond.
Untitled Theatre Collective has brought An Evening Conference On Feminism & Equality At Large At The Fantabulosa Esoteric Cabaret Dada to Frigid NY. It is 100 years and counting since Dada emerged in Switzerland as an avant-garde response to the horrors of World War I and bourgeois life. This show is written and directed by Lucca Damilano (using original Dada texts, I should add) and stars five provocatively made-up female performers: Alexa Welsh, Belinda Adam, Sarah Gwynne Walker, Talia Moreta, and Lorraine Tai. Moreta and Tai provided the choreography which invigorates this pageant of poetry and obscenities. I was quite intrigued by this production, which channels the irrationality of Dada the way I suspect the troupe does on a regular basis, judging by its name.
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| photo by Lorraine Tai |
I happen to know that Emmy Hennings (wife of Hugo Ball) and Sophie Taeuber (wife of Jean Arp) were major players in the movement. The odds are that they came up with all the ideas. I am craving such clarity. The current Francis Picabia exhibition at the MoMA includes two films from the era which do not empower women at all. However, MoMA’s recent Dadaglobe exhibition suggests that Tristan Tzara’s circle was more accepting of women who wanted to destroy complacency. (“A prison is not a prison if you want to be there.”)
The show continues with a face-off between a Singer sewing machine and the best in typewriters. A recipe featuring bulghur wheat contrasts with more stream-of-conscious poetry. We even get to hear someone’s view that bad art is not the issue, rather bourgeois oversimplification. At the very end, the cast consult the show program and applaud as though they had just seen the show.
An Evening Conference On Feminism & Equality At Large At The Fantabulosa Esoteric Cabaret Dada is a brave and fascinating evening of theater. Given the collapse of our world order, we may need the lessons of this movement. I hope this show inspires more interest in revolutionary art from the women of the famous Cabaret Voltaire and beyond.