Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Raja Feather Kelly’s UGLY, an observant examination of black queer identity vis-à-vis popular culture

• By drediman
• September 6, 2018
• No Comments

Raja Feather Kelly in “Ugly” at the Bushwick Starr. Photo by Adrian Dimanlig.

Last night, I caught the Bushwick Starr’s first production of its 2018-2019 season, Raja Feather Kelly’s Ugly. In the past, the Brooklyn-based theater company – which is now entering its 10th anniversary season – has uncannily showcased some of the city’s most exciting up-and-coming performance/theater artists. Mr. Kelly’s solo piece is no exception.

Ugly is a fascinating hybrid of dance and performance art that examines black queer identity vis-à-vis popular culture. Not surprisingly, the show relies heavily on an aggressively-curated soundtrack spliced from Radiohead to Mean Girls (the movie) to Tchaikovsky’s Fifth. Refreshingly, Mr. Kelly is more keen on carefully observing and expressing rather than sulking and thrashing (in anger).  His show maturely suggests that the states of entrapment and isolation are more than the result of just barriers, figuratively speaking or not. One can’t take for granted the intangible emotions, some of them self-inflicted via an addiction to and magnified through the lens of pop culture, that accompany such situations: shame, moments of elation, even dirty lust. Mr. Kelly takes it a step further by implying that these “barriers” in a way define us, for better or worse.

Ultimately, Ugly – which is written, directed, choreographed, costumed, and performed by Mr. Kelly – somewhat lacks cohesion, and that’s totally fine. With a running time of only an hour, it’s hardly a noticeable fault. It must be said, though, that the production is gorgeously realized; kudos to Tuce Yasak’s haunting lighting design, You-Shin Chen’s clean, striking set design, and Emily Auciello’s superb sound design. Although this production’s short run ends this Sunday, don’t miss the opportunity to catch a show at this rightfully hip theatrical hotbed at some point this season (which continues this fall with David Greenspan’s The Things That Were There).

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UGLY
Off-Broadway, Dance / Performance
The Bushwick Starr
1 hour (without an intermission)
Through September 9