Interludes

VIEWPOINTS – BAM’s Next Wave Festival continues with two stimulating international productions: 32 RUE VANDENBRANDEN & BARBER SHOP CHRONICLES

• By drediman
• December 9, 2019
• No Comments

In recent weeks, BAM’s Next Wave Festival continued robustly with two stimulating, stirringly-staged international productions at the Harvey Theater.

The company of Peeping Tom’s production of “32 rue Vandenbraden”, an offering at BAM’s Next Wave Festival, at the Harvey Theater. Photo by Michel Cavalca.

First we have Gabriela Carrizo and Franck Chartier’s 32 rue Vandenbranden (RECOMMENDED), courtesy of Belgium’s Peeping Tom. Set in a trailer park on a wintry mountaintop, the enigmatic dance theater piece is comprised of a medley of intimate choreographed interactions amongst the small community’s motley denizens. I strongly suspect that the work was inspired by the menacing, surreal dreamscapes of filmmaker David Lynch, as well as the highly theatrical dance aesthetic of the late, much-emulated choreographer Pina Bausch. But despite the show’s masterful ability to conjure mood and its gorgeously disorienting time- and gravity-defying choreography, I ultimately found 32 rue Vandenbranden more memorable for its keen sense of style than the overarching dramatic impact of its loose narrative (there was only a vague sense of a “there there”). Nevertheless, the production was undeniably striking to look at and performed with fearless bravura by a fiercely talented company.

The company of Fuel, National Theatre, and Leeds Playhouse’s co-production of “Barber Shop Chronicles” by Inua Ellams, an offering at BAM’s Next Wave Festival, at the Harvey Theater. Photo by Tim Trumble.

Shortly thereafter, the Harvey played host to Nigerian-British playwright Inua Ellams’ crowd-pleasing Barber Shop Chronicles (RECOMMENDED), a co-production between the British theater companies Fuel, National Theatre, and Leeds Playhouse. The play tells the interlinked, globe-spanning story (the play ambitiously takes place in barber shops across Lagos, Johannesburg, Accra, Kampala, Harare, and London) about a colorful group of African barbers and their equally colorful clientele. Mr. Ellams’ play is notable in that it gives audiences a rare opportunity to be exposed to African masculinity, as well as father-son relationships. Even if the the storytelling is at times a bit far-fetched and skeletal, I applaud the playwright’s decision to not shy away from the less savory aspects of his characters’ stories and their flawed personalities. I also found the boisterous vitality of the performances and production – kinetically and joyfully staged by Bijan Sheibani – to be infectious and attention-grabbing.

32 RUE VANDENBRANDEN
Dance Theater
Peeping Tom / BAM’s Next Wave Festival / Harvey Theater
1 hour, 20 minutes (without an intermission)
Closed

BARBER SHOP CHRONICLES
Off-Broadway, Play
Fuel, National Theatre, and Leeds Playhouse / BAM’s Next Wave Festival / Harvey Theater
1 hour, 45 minutes (without an intermission)
Closed