Spoletto at the halfway mark.
One of the very many good things about living in Charleston, SC, is Spoletto, the annual arts festival. I do not personally scour the news releases and write-ups to set up an intense program of music, theater and art commitments, but try to be somewhat selective. Mostly, I have to fend off numerous offerings from my better-half, but every now and then, I give in.
Over the years, I have had the misfortune to attend some really outrageously esoteric shows, catering to those who live, probably not by choice, on the fringes of the bell-curve of the human intellect. Perhaps to my everlasting shame, I am not a fan of the composer Phillip Glass, because I sat through a collaborative work of his and Allen Ginsberg several years ago, and took an oath to avoid him at all costs, forever!
On the other hand, I have seen some exceptional performances, the best of which was Stanley Jordan, who more-than-eclipsed Chet Atkins, with whom he shared the billing.
This time around, I have been to more than my usual one-or-two shows. The first was the BatSheva Dance Company, last week at the Gaillard. The two highlights of this performance, for me, were driven by the music. The first, the opening number, was an explosive middle eastern – techno riff, and the dancers took turns to improvise a blend of flowing and seizure-like movements, while the rest of the troupe stood by in suspended states of inelegant passivity. Then, every so often, they forcefully gestured in unison towards our right, fists and hips flailing, as if to drive of, in terror, some unseen aggressor.
The second highlight was also loud, pulsating techno – from the Passover Seder – Echad Mi Yodea – Who knows One? And they went all the way, from 1 to 13. The troupe were seated for this in a semicircle, and I did not make a connection with every piece of symbolic movement, but the effect was every bit as dramatic as the music itself. Each verse culminated in a motion that began at the dancer at our left, spread like a wave to the right, where the last dancer ended falling exhausted and spent onto the dance floor. For these 2 numbers alone, the show was worth it.
My next show was the “Constant Wife”, which was an uplifting comedy in English manners and mores. Fun, if not entirely representing what really happens to people in such situations.
Last night, we went to see “Denmark Vesey: Insurrection” at the American Movie Theater on King Street. This is a powerful performance of a play that makes innumerable connections to past and present realities. The playwright, Julian Wiles, has brought together themes and questions that resonate in today’s post-9/11 world* – the more things change, the more they stay the same – politics, religion, fear, rumor, secrecy, freedom, justice. I recommend you all go and see it.
I leave you with a thought expressed by my mother. In the days after my father passed away, she said she was not going to make any sweeping decisions about her life until things had settled some. She said she had seen some women hastily move out of their homes, and make other big decisions, only to regret them later. The wisdom in this is not to make important decisions in haste and desperation, in a state clouded by extreme emotions. If all men could follow such advice, Denmark Vesey would have found justice**, and we would not have foundered into Iraq.
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* Playwrights have often made their plays as commentary on current political events. Shakespeare's plays of earlier kings, such as King Lear, were cloaked critiques of the monarchs of the time - when more vocal opposition could lead you to lose your head. But we are luckier than that.
** The slave insurrection has reportedly been taught in local history classes over the years. Go and see if th play's presentation matches what you were taught in school, or what is available at resources online.
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