THE HANGOVER REPORT – DARK NOON is at once a subversively satiric romp through America’s past and a sobering reckoning

A scene from “Dark Noon” at St. Ann’s Warehouse (photo by Søren Meisner).

For its summer offering, St. Ann’s Warehouse is presenting the New York premiere of Dark Noon. Created by Danish director Tue Biering and co-directed and choreographed by South African theater-maker Nhlanhla Mahlangu, the production was the big hit of last year’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival. The ambitious piece is a excavation of American history — particularly focused on dissecting our country’s romanticized view of The Wild West — through the lens of an ensemble of South African actors, who over the course of the evening literally erect a pioneer town before the audience’s eyes to reflect the economic and cultural evolution of the American pioneer.

In essence, Dark Noon is a subversive, eye-opining theatrical documentary that’s unafraid to lay bare the fundamental savagery and inhumanity underpinning “The Wild West” chapter of our country’s development — and its lasting impact and influence on America’s national identity and cherished mythologies. This is not to say that the work is all serious work and no play. Far from it. Biering and Mahlangu’s probing production is as sobering as it is wickedly entertaining. With elements of immersive theater and physical theater incorporated into the fabric of the experience, Dark Noon is invariably exhilarating — at once a gleefully satiric romp through America’s past and an unsettlingly clear-eyed reckoning.

Featuring a cast of just seven — thanks to some crafty directorial work, they do a terrifically stealthy job of seeming much larger than they actually number — the production is a true team effort. In addition to playing a dizzying multitude of characters (the pointed, highly physical performances range from playful to unnervingly deadpan), the ensemble also doubles as a production crew, skillfully incorporating multimedia elements into the piece, bringing playful variety to and ultimately enhancing the overall theatrical storytelling (rather than detract from it, as is often the case with such “gimmicks”).

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

DARK NOON
Off-Broadway, Play
St. Ann’s Warehouse
1 hour, 45 minutes (without an intermission)
Through July 7

Categories: Off-Broadway, Theater

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