People Are Talking: UMS presents Ryoji Ikeda’s...
Posted: 10/31/14
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PERFORMANCES & EVENTS
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All comments by Sally
People Are Talking [and Video Booth]: Einstein on the Beach at Power Center:
Of course all great works have timeless themes that are relevant to everyone. I actually had the opposite reaction — I expected details to be a bit more updated. Instead, it was solidly (delightfully) 20th century surreal, very Magritte-esque. It’s not a negative criticism at all, though. On the other hand, I feel like there’s so much more to be explored, or at least hinted at, with the way life has changed since 1976.
Hi Linda,
I totally agree about how lucky we are: Bravo UMS!
I think the openness of the experience that is Einstein helps keep it current. Since the viewer completes the work, the living audience will always make connections to their contemporary life. For me this comes through most vividly when the Asian actor picks up the conch shell, as she does at two points. This connection with the beach and the ocean brings Japan’s tsumami and subsequent nuclear disaster to my mind — a reference obviously not in the mind of Wilson back in 1976, however, maybe he considered that in 2011 when he did the casting.
"by Mark Clague