ARTS

Being Not Nothing opera a departure from norm

Intriguing visual aesthetic a highlight of this exploratory piece

by Rumaan Alam

Opera, for most Oberlin audiences, probably conjures mental images of sitting in a filled-to-capacity Hall Auditorium for four hours. This weekend's premiere of Being Not Nothing, which is billed as an opera, is quite a departure from that convention.

Directed and conceived by Max Truax, OC '98, the piece is certainly operatic in scale. Though the music is sparse, the cinematic visual aesthetic of the show, as well as the intense, larger-than-life performances by the small cast do fit preconceptions about opera as a grand and majestic performance. But audiences beware: opera this is not, and the decision to label it as such is silly and beside the point. Photo of the Secret Agent in

The collaborators on the show include a number of alumni from \twelv\, the performance group created by Truax as his honors project last year. There are, however, distinctly new touches which help make the work more interesting than simply another performance installation - a medium which all but ran the arts scene last spring.

Senior Laren Rusin served as assistant director, and was primarily responsible for the design of the beautiful installation in the second act. The score, which is surprisingly memorable, was written by Conservatory junior Corey Dargel and Conservatory sophomore Yvan Greenberg, both of whom perform in the show as well. Almost every other aspect of the show was a collaborative effort on the part of all involved.

Plot summary will be impossible and unimportant, since plot is not central to this work as it would be in other media. The first act is performed in the tunnel under the bleachers at Jones Field House; a surprisingly successful choice of location, as the acoustics and lighting both serve the production well. The cast plays with the depth of the space wonderfully. Dargel and Greenberg make their entrance slowly, and are visible from quite a distance. It is a strikingly cinematic sequence, and one almost expects to see titles roll down the screen. Their antics with trash cans might recall Beckett, but it's a tolerable reference, and the entrance of sophomore Jessie Marshall steals the audience's attention anyway.

Marshall remains far upstage (if that's even an appropriate term), prancing around in a lovely wedding gown, the evening wind adding a nice touch to the scene. She advances and sings, through a megaphone, the show's opening number. It's no conventional aria, and the billing of this show as an opera makes one immediately think of Puccini or Bizet. Her vocals are strangely beautiful, as is the simple and perfectly executed music. Every member of the cast, which also includes senior Maggie Callahan and junior Keely Meehan, has a very strong presence. Since it is not traditional theater, the cast does not thrive by using conventional acting technique. Rather, they entrance by a strange charisma which they each comfortably. Meehan appears once more-if you look up during the installation part of the show you might catch sight of her-sinister as ever, cleverly illuminated and carrying an ominous-looking television set. After she exits, a story is told by Callahan to Greenberg, and acted out by Dargel and Marshall. Callahan tells a great story, and this is one of the evening's strengths, as the audience can readily follow along.

The climactic third act requires another audience exodus, this time to the dusty field house itself. The action is exciting and well-paced, if only because the running time is more tolerable. The highlight of the third act is Meehan's haunting spoken/singing solo, and the wonderful contributions of the musicians (Conservatory Freshman Taeja Choi, College Junior Joey Plaster, and Conservatory Junior Katie Shorb), as well as the capable tech crew, who take on a more active role in this act.

At the end of the second act the show begins to take on a significant emotional thrust, rather than simply being elusive and experimental. The emotions run high, however, and the show relies on rather conventional sentimentality for the remaining acts, which is in its favor. Audience members who don't flee after the first act are unlikely to leave thereafter, since the action becomes too involving.

For the fourth and final act, the audience is asked to walk to Fairchild Chapel. The distance is not overwhelming, and is worth it, ultimately, but time-wise the show does ask a lot of its audience. It is not as participatory and interactive as it could be; a great deal of the success of the show comes from the way the collaborators have used the conventions of the theater. And so asking the audience to keep moving, while innovative to a point, does become annoying as time slips by. The fourth act, however (while being really only atmosphere), is worth waiting for. Each successful element in the show to this point - the music, the lighting, even the costumes - is highlighted in this act.

Being Not Nothing achieves a strange emotional impact on its audience. Since the show is inherently non-narrative, there is no real sense of what the conflict is, and there is even less a sense of the resolution. Even so, the work has an impressionistic quality which leaves the viewer feeling as though she has experienced something. Visually, the show is flawless, achieving a harmony akin to a great painting. But the idea of looking at a painting, no matter how lush, for four hours, is bound to alienate many people.

For ticket-holders that do get bored, stick with it. It's worth hearing the lovely text Meehan delivers in the third act, or hearing Dargel berate Callahan for her ugly sweater, and most definitely seeing Marshall and Meehan bathed in bright light in the beautiful vignette which closes the show. The show clearly lacks some of the diversions of opera-the explanatory translations, the comfortable seats-leaving audiences to decide if it's a fair trade-off.

Corey Dargel, one of the stronger solo performers, is worthy of special attention.


Photo:
They're watching you: Senior Keely Meehan, who plays the Secret Agent in this week's Being Not Nothing, an opera conceived by Max Truax, OC '98, and delivered in Jones Field House. (photo by Laren Rusin)

 

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Copyright © 1999, The Oberlin Review.
Volume 127, Number 18, April 2, 1999

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