Interludes

VIEWPOINTS – BAM’s Next Wave continues with a barrage of ninja-like, boundary-pushing offerings (and not all of them involve live performance)

• By drediman
• November 3, 2019
• No Comments

Last week saw BAM’s 2019 Next Wave — so far — at its most daringly eclectic via a barrage of short, ninja-like productions. Collectively (if not individually), they pushed the boundaries of the festival’s programming from previous seasons, thanks largely to the curation under the famed institution’s new artistic director David Binder (e.g., all the artists this year are making their BAM debuts). Not surprisingly, Next Wave has continued with a set of offerings that highlight the festival’s ongoing fascination with deconstructing both history and performative forms we thought we knew. However, more than ever, Next Wave seems to be embracing forms other than live performance (particularly film) to accomplish its goals, as hinted at in previous weeks in memorable hybrid performances such as The Second Woman and What if they went to Moscow? (each could be appreciated for its live performance aspects or its respective filmic interpretation, ideally in conjunction).

Ben Kidd and Bush Moukarzel’s “Hamnet”, an offering at BAM’s 2019 Next Wave Festival, at BAM Fisher.

First up at BAM Fisher was Dead Centre’s Hamnet (RECOMMENDED), written and directed by Ben Kidd and Bush Moukarzel. Using striking multi-media techniques, the innovative Irish company brashly magnifies and explodes a blip in history, that of the legacy of Hamnet Shakespeare – who passed on when he was only 11 years of age – vis-a-vis that of his father, the immortal playwright William Shakespeare. Ingeniously using technology to create simultaneous universes (the work is largely an interplay between video and live performance), the folks at Dead Centre, with the aid of the text of Hamlet, bring an aching and frustrated sense of “what if?” to not just the inherently tragic instance of young Hamnet, but also history at large. Although there’s a lot of conceptual stuff to unpack in the show’s 60 minutes, Hamnet somehow manages to to entertain as much as it provokes post-show rumination.

Brian Irvine and John McIlduff”s “He Did What?”, an offering at BAM’s 2019 Next Wave Festival, projected on the Peter Jay Sharp Building.

Projected just around the block on the exterior of the Peter Jay Sharp Building was Brian Irvine and John McIlduff’s animated mini-opera He Did What? (RECOMMENDED), courtesy of Dumbworld and Irish National Opera. Priced free of charge (audiences are given headsets through which the score is played) and playing nightly on a loop from 7-10pm, the ludicrous opera tells the story of two geriatric women who conspire to murder one of their cheating husbands. Even with a running time of only 10-minutes, He Did What? packs quite a visceral punch. Mr. Irvine’s score is vibrant and often times thrilling, and Mr. McIlduff’s libretto is consistently hilarious and irreverent. The whole affair turns operatic associations on their heads (e.g., irreverent subject matter, wholly animated, “performed” outdoors, short duration, etc.), to hugely amusing effect. Nevertheless, the passionate essence of of the misunderstood art form was in evidence. This, too, is opera!

Bruno Beltrao’s “Inoah”, an offering at BAM’s 2019 Next Wave Festival, at the Howard Gilman Opera House.

Then, just inside the Peter Jay Sharp Building in the Howard Gilman Opera House, we had Brazilian choreographer Bruno Beltrão’s Inoah (RECOMMENDED), which seems on the surface to be the most traditional performance of last week’s lot. But look more closely, and you’ll find ruthlessly deconstructed the notion of hip hop dance. As intensely and ultimately dazzlingly performed by ten company members of Grupo de Rua, the brooding hourlong dance piece reassesses each attribute of the celebrated dance form – urban, freestyle, fearless – and extracts them from layers of cultural associations. When reassembled, what we have is a simmering, sleekly contemporary work (set to a moody, brooding electronic score by Felipe Storino) that creates a stark, completely fresh visual metaphor for the people’s stand against social instability. Indeed, bodies are flung about as if they were dispensable, but always the masses nevertheless bounce back to continue their assault.

Selina Thompson’s “Race Cards”, an offering at BAM’s 2019 Next Wave Festival, in the lobby of the Peter Jay Sharp Building.

Also on display just across the lobby from the Opera House auditorium in the Peter Jay Sharp Building day is Race Cards (RECOMMENDED), Selina Thompson’s provocative interactive installation which dares us to think about our personal racial biases in a more nuanced, critical manner. To accomplish this, Ms. Thompson poses 1,000 questions on cards, all neatly and unassumingly arranged in the intimate gallery space. Some questions overtly confront racism, while others come across as deceptively lighthearted. At the end of the short exhibit, we’re asked to answer one of the preceding questions. Easier said than done. This is socially-driven art that asks us to directly engage, which is what all art should have been doing all along.

HAMNET
Theater
Dead Centre / BAM’s Next Wave Festival / BAM Fisher
1 hour (without an intermission)

HE DID WHAT?
Opera/Film
Dumbworld & Irish National Opera / BAM’s Next Wave Festival / Peter Jay Sharp Building
10 minutes (without an intermission)

INOAH
Dance
Grupo de Rua / BAM’s Next Wave Festival / Howard Gilman Opera House
1 hour (without an intermission)

RACE CARDS
Installation
BAM’s Next Wave Festival / Peter Jay Sharp Building
Approximately 15 minutes