"There Were Never Such Devoted Sisters"
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| Stars range from 5-1. |
It has no
dialogue, its methods have a deceptively primitive (in the best sense) quality,
and its story is rather simple, but ADA/AVA—an award-winning multimedia piece
created in 2010 by a Chicago troupe called Manual Cinema, and subsequently
toured internationally—offers one of the most hypnotically engrossing hours in
the theatre you’re likely to spend. Presented here in collaboration by Three-Legged
Dog and The Tank, the work was created by Drew Dir, Sarah Fornace, Ben
Kauffman, Julia Miller, and Kyle Vetger, designed by Dir, Fornace, and Miller,
and performed by Miller as Ava and Kara Davidson as Ada, with Dir, Fornace, and
Evan Garrett in their support. ADA/AVA is a shadow puppet play with a
distinctive twist.
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From left: Drew Dir, Sam Deutsch, Sarah Fornace, Lizi Breit, Julia Miller. Photo: Howard Ash.
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Instead of
puppeteers holding up flat puppet figures between a single light source and a
sheet, as in much Asian shadow puppet theatre (where only a single puppeteer with
many puppets is likely to be present), the chief light sources here are four
conventional overhead projectors placed before two screens, a smaller one below
and a larger one above. The audience of around 60 sits on bleachers facing this
arrangement. The puppeteers stand with their backs to the audience and handle
dozens of two-dimensional items representing humans, props, and scenic
backgrounds, placing them in perfectly coordinated sequences on the projectors
as the story of Ada and Ava is enacted, with their characters played both by
two actresses and by multiple shadow puppets allowing for changes in age and
size. The lower screen, in front of which the live action occurs, shows a
reverse image of what’s seen on the upper screen, so we get a split effect, one
showing how it’s done and the other the result.
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From left: Julia Miller, Lizi Breit. Photo: Howard
Ash.
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The
actresses move back and forth between the projectors and the lower screen, where
they interact with images cast by other puppeteers, a process so seamless you
might even think they’re actually climbing ladders or doing other such physical
activities. Occasionally, another puppeteer will also join the action, even if
only to provide a life-like hand for an otherwise stationary shadow. Ada and
Ava are identical twins, silver-haired traditional spinsters in their seventies,
wearing black dresses, their shoulders rounded by age; to heighten the effect
of their silhouettes the actresses wear exaggerated masklike profiles.
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From left: Sarah Fornace, Sam Deutsch, Drew Dir. Photo: Howard Ash.
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The inseparable
Ada and Ava live in a lonely light house high on a New England bluff (cue the
seat-rattling thunder and lightning!), where the old-fashioned wallpaper backs
numerous framed silhouette pictures of them, showing the sisters from childhood
on. Flashbacks reveal the sisters as playful children, with their petty
conflicts, such as struggling for possession of a shell at the beach; in the
present they make tea, play chess, attend to their lighthouse duties, and live
a life of quiet contentment, until Ava succumbs to the inevitable, leaving Ada
like one whose very soul has fled. Seeking recovery from her loss, Ada visits a
carnival and enters a hall of mirrors (mirror images play a big role throughout
the piece), where she’s overwhelmed by her grief for Ava and goes on a phantasmagorical mind trip, expressed by marvelous, often ghostly, special
effects. Ultimately, she’s able to find peace from her sorrow until she and Ava
are able to be together again.
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From left: Drew Dir, Sam Deutsch, Sarah Fornace. Photo: Howard Ash.
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Accompanying
the performance is an almost nonstop background of music and sound effects, the
exceptional original score by Vetger and Kauffman employing a remarkable
variety of musical styles, including jazz, big band, and carnival calliope; Vetger
does cello and Rhodes piano, Kauffman does vocals, guitar, and synthesizer, and
Maren Celest plays clarinet and also sings “All of Me” and “In My Solitude”
with a Billie Holiday vibe.
The
general effect is like an animated film, except that it’s all being created
right before our eyes as we watch. This, however, has its drawbacks, since the
constant presence of the performers performing and the use of the double screen
draws attention to the process and, while increasing respect for the “how” of
what’s being shown, detracts from the “what.” Others have argued on behalf of
this approach, and my companion had no problem with it. I, however, despite my
appreciation for the expertise and ingenuity, would have esteemed these more if
only the opening minutes showed how the thing is done, after which a curtain might
have slid on to hide the process, allowing me to focus without distractions on
the story and its execution.
Moods of
melancholy and dread dominate, and several supernatural moments can be chilling, but
lighter feelings also thread their way through the narrative as we get to know
these wordless siblings and to understand the depth of their connection. Aside
from my quibbles about its mechanics, ADA/AVA is an exceptional piece of
devised theatre definitely worth a visit to its downtown venue.
Other
Viewpoints:
3LD Art
and Technology Center
80
Greenwich Street, NYC
Through July 26
