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De La Guarda |
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Author: Pichon Baldinu and Diqui James
Music and Lyrics by Laurence O'Keefe
Reviewer: David Roberts for Theatre Reviews Limited |
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On one of the occasions Moses visited the Judeo-Christian God (or was it the other way around?), Moses was asked to take off his shoes because he was approaching "holy ground;" that is, he was about to enter a new place on his personal life journey "wholly other" than anywhere he had been before and it was better for him to enter that new space as unencumbered as possible. I had a similar feeling when I approached the doors of the Daryl Roth Theatre and saw a sign suggesting I "check" my briefcase, backpack, notebook, etc. before entering the performance of De La Guarda's "Villa Villa." A little fearful, I decided to hold on to my briefcase. I am, after all, a reviewer and am as likely to leave my briefcase behind as I am to enter a performance space barefoot, but then neither am I one to plummet down a roller coaster embankment with both my arms up in the air screaming at the top of my lungs. So, a little uncomfortable, encumbered with some of the tools of my trade (perhaps too many) and some of my past, I passed through the gates into what turned out to be "holy ground" indeed.
  
The journey to De La Guarda's "Villa Villa" began with being ushered into the "lobby" where there were drinks, shirts and caps for sale and an expectant but party atmosphere. The young man selling the shirts and caps cautioned us not to look for meaning in the piece we were about to see, just to enjoy ourselves in the experience. I had difficulty dodging meaning -- but I am getting ahead of myself. From the lobby we were ushered in to a "black box" theatre space with no seats, no aisles, nothing really familiar. A single instrument spilled some light on the crowd which, standing, filled the space. After a short time the single light went out and the holy journey began. For the first part of the seventy minute show, all the action took place above a thin paper-like ceiling. We could see the shadows of persons "flying," fog rolling over the ceiling which looked like it could have been water, objects dropping onto the ceiling, plopping, pinging, pouring -- and all the time music for the soul and heart hitting places that hadn't been touched in a long time. It was at this moment that I realized that "meaning" here came from within the audience member. What the performers were providing was a safe space to "feel" and the permission to see whatever meaning we each needed or wanted to see.
What happens to the ceiling (and the walls) of this black box theatre after this opening kaleidoscopic and planetarium-like opening will be for you to discover. It is enough to say that the "flying" actors and the audience soon occupy the same very large and very open space of the new theatre which used to be the Union Square Bank. The remainder of the show is a non-stop, high energy surprise -- one after another, wave upon wave of primal sounds, tribal connections, shrieks, flying, dancing, raving, gawking, smiling, stomping, jumping and wondering. I was touched deeply and began thinking about a variety of issues: visitation and abduction, redemption and release, pursuit and capture, mythos and religion, fantasy and reality. The gifts (that's what they were!) offered by De La Guarda in "Villa Villa" interface with the gifts each member of the audience brings and interface (and get in the face of) with all the joy, all the anxiety, all the stress, all the expectation we each own. If you feel free enough, you might even volunteer to be "lifted up" into the performance space, held tightly by a strong young man harnassed and connected to a bungee cord.
I walked to my N/R train a little more slowly than I had left it a few hours earlier. I felt a little less afraid, somewhat more connected. Go figure. Better yet, go see! To say any more about the performance would be unfair to you. Oh, look down before you leave the performance space. You will leave "Villa Villa" with your heart and soul re-filled. No reason to leave empty handed. Remember, you heard it here.
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Created and directed by Pichon Baldinu and Diqui James. Original production, technical development, set/sound design by De La Guarda; lighting designer, De La Guarda/Charles Trigueros; costume designer, De La Guarda/Cecilia Alassia; composer and musical director, Gabriel Kerpel. At the Daryl Roth Theatre (former Union Square Bank), 20 Union Square East at 15th Street. Information and Tickets ($40-$45) 212-239-6200.
WITH: Valeria Alonso, Pichon Baldinu, Gabriela Barberio, Martin Bauer, Mayra Bonard, Carlos Casella, Fabio D'Aquila, Julieta Dentone, Rafael Ferro, Ana Frenkel, Alejandro Garcia, Diqui James, Tomas James, Gabriel Kerpel, and Maria Ucedo.
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