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| Kathryn Cation, Sheryl Sutton. |
Leading avant-garde director-designer Robert Wilson
presented this phantasmagorical Dadaist piece (previously seen in Paris) in the
unlikely environs of Broadway. The critical confusion he engendered did much to
cut his projected limited run of four weeks down to two. He called the work an “opera,”
though it was more spoken than sung. It also contained some unusual whirling
dances.
Unlike his earlier, silence-oriented works, this one was an
experiment in language usage, an attempt to capture the pictorial and
linguistic imagination of an autistic boy’s mind. 15-year-old Christopher
Knowles, brain-damaged boy with whom Wilson had been engaging in therapeutic
work, was a featured performer.
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| Christopher Knowles, Sheryl Sutton. |
The language seemed random and abstract, never discursive,
and impossible to follow in a rational way. It was fragmented, imagistic, and
often spoken by several people at once in what sounded like gibberish.
Screaming was also a dominant vocal approach.
Visually, Wilson’s taste for strange, fantastical tableaux
and images made a strong impression. However, the work seemed less gorgeous
than earlier Wilson events, and often seemed to strain for effects. Following
the images for a thematic consistency was doomed to failure, as one vision
succeeded the other in dreamlike progression without links.
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| Sheryl Sutton, Cindy Luhar, Scotty Snyder. |
One representative scene described by several commentators
is given here in T.E. Kalem’s words: “The backdrop carries the words CHITTER
CHATTER printed several hundred times. Half a dozen or more couples are seated
in silence at small café tables. Simultaneously, they all begin gesticulating
and making high-pitched gibberish conversation.”
In another scene, as Edwin Wilson described it, “a group of
four figures wearing army fatigues and World War I pilots’ helmets with goggles”
was seen. “There is a strong crosslight which casts deep shadows on the stage.
The four figures range themselves in a striking pose. The lights go out and
then come on again and the four are arranged differently. Once again, and the
four are on the floor.”
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| Robert Wilson. |
The critics were mostly appreciative of the evening’s
bizarre beauty and enigmatic themes, even though they had to struggle valiantly
to communicate the nature of the experience. Many found themselves mesmerized
for the full three hours. The clue to watching, said several, was to get rid of
preconceptions, stop thinking, and allow the effects to reach the subconscious
where they could set off sparks of aesthetic enjoyment. Given his maverick
proclivities, it was not surprising that critic John Simon chose not to follow
his colleagues. Instead, he struck out at Wilson as an artistic pretender and his play
as “The season’s scandal.”
Wilson was given the Joseph Maharam Foundation Award, and
Alan Lloyd received a Tony nomination for Best Score.