Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Phantom Limb Company’s eco-focused MEMORY RINGS at BAM is whimsical, hypnotic

• By drediman
• November 18, 2016
• No Comments

Phantom Limb Company’s “Memory Rings” at BAM Harvey

Last night, I attended a performance of New York-based Phantom Limb Company’s Memory Rings, an offering at BAM’s Next Wave Festival. In many ways, this multi-disciplinary defies categorization. Memory Rings, which has been conceived by Jessica Grindstaff and Erik Sanko, utilizes dance/movement (courtesty of Ryan Heffington), puppet theater (courtesy of Mr. Sanko), and multi-media to create a hallucinatory dreamscape that artfully depicts climate change and our shifting relationship with the natural world.

The result is a whimsical, hypnotic, and at times frightening in uncanny ways. Although the production has been smoothly directed and strikingly designed by Ms. Grindstaff – special mention must also go out to Keith Stretch’s stunning projection design – Memory Rings is often times confounding (what do the dispersed fairy tales have to do with climate change?), heavy-handed, and some segments go on for far too long. That being said, this Phantom Limb Company production is never less than fascinating, visceral theater.

RECOMMENDED

MEMORY RINGS
Off-Broadway, Puppet Theater/Dance/Theater
Phantom Limb Company at BAM Harvey
1 hour, 20 minutes (without an intermission)
Through November 20