VIEWPOINTS – Deeply internalized trauma through a surreal lens: Renae Simone Jarrett’s DAPHNE and Gisèle Vienne’s L’ÉTANG

In recent days, I was was able to take in a pair of fascinating shows, both of which depicted deeply internalized trauma through a surreal lens. Read on for my thoughts.

Jasmine Batchelor in LCT3’s production of “Daphne” by Renae Simone Jarrett at the Claire Tow Theater (photo by Marc J. Franklin).

DAPHNE
LCT3 at the Claire Tow Theater
Through November 19

Last night, LCT3’s world premiere production of Daphne (RECOMMENDED) by Renae Simone Jarrett’s opened Off-Broadway at Lincoln Center Theater’s Claire Tow Theater. Set in a remote house in the middle of the woods far away from the city, Jarrett depicts a passive aggressively abusive relationship that gnaws at the title character until she no longer recognizes herself – literally; no spoilers here. Although the work is loosely based on a Greek myth (about a river nymph who morphs into a tree when she becomes exhausted of Apollo’s pursuit of her), Jarrett’s play is firmly its own creation with its own motivations, focusing particularly on how the trauma of abuse can alter the way you perceive one’s life, even to the point of misconstruing illusion for reality. To accomplish this, the playwright effectively taps into abstract, surreal theater to evoke Daphne’s escalating anxiety, extreme loneliness, and the resulting deterioration of her mental and emotional state. From the beginning, an intangible menace permeates the piece, ultimately making way for melancholy and at times terror (the work also registers as a ghost story of sorts). All around, the performances are excellent, particularly Jasmine Batchelor as the sensitive title character and Kelly McQuail as her abusive lover. Lastly, director Sarah Hughes and her top notch design team have done a wonderful job of realizing Jarrett’s surreal world – in which things are rarely what you think they are – with careful attention to detail.

Adèle Haenel in Dance Reflections’ presentation of “L’Etang” by Gisèle Vienne at New York Live Arts (photo by Estelle Hanania).

L’ÉTANG
Dance Reflections / New York Live Arts
Closed

Then there’s Gisèle Vienne’s L’Étang (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED), which just wrapped up performances down at New York Live Arts in Chelsea. With its heavy emphasis on symbolism and movement, the work falls squarely into the realm of experimental theater and dance (the work’s New York premiere is presented under the auspices of Van Cleef & Arpels’ Dance Reflections, an ambitious contemporary dance festival currently taking on New York). Instead of Daphne‘s more overt display of abuse, the trauma in Vienne’s piercing work arises from the willful withholding of love and compassion. Indeed, the show’s premise – which is based on Robert Walser’s 1902 verse drama Der Teich (which translates in English to “The Pond”) – is of a boy who attempts to drown himself to induce a compassionate response from his cold mother. In Vienne’s radical interpretation of Walser’s work, the multidisciplinary theater artist eschews naturalism completely, instead choosing to excavate beneath the surface to focus on the characters’ psychology. As such, the piece takes place almost completely within the characters’ heads, as artfully and surreally manifested by its physically rigorous (the piece is essentially rendered in deliberate slow motion) and emotionally raw staging. Fiercely political French film actress Adèle Haenel (Portrait of a Lady on Fire) gives a wrenching performance as the boy and his young cohort, while veteran Pina Bausch performer Julie Shanahan is imperious as the parents.

Categories: Dance, Off-Broadway, Theater

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