By Aron Canter (guest reviewer)
From time to time Theatre's Leiter Side will be posting reviews of Off-Off Broadway shows my schedule prevents me from seeing. I hope you find the expanded coverage useful. Sam Leiter
Renowned actress Isabella Rossellini, who notably starred in David
Lynch’s Blue Velvet as the mysterious lounge singer. Dorothy Vallens, is
a lifelong animal lover, now completing a Master’s at Hunter College in Animal
Behavior and Conservation. She has transformed her studies into a 75-minute
solo performance at Hunter College running through early May. Link
Link Circus, directed by Rossellini and Guido Torlonia, is
an absolutely charming “theatrical conference” on Rossellini’s academic
research and conclusions which she performs as the ringleader of a children’s
circus. Coltish and didactic, charming and effective, the work is a must see
for any animal lover.
 |
| Isabella Rossellini, Andy Byers. Photo: Tristram Kenton. |
The title harkens to Darwin’s linking of primates to humans and
his theory of evolution. This, though, is Rossellini’s classroom, and her
lecture covers the breadth of her personal and academic interests: addressing
animal behavior, the relationship between animal and human anatomy, animal
imagination, and animal consciousness. The work, though, is rarely desultory,
and while silly, never capricious. An erudite, natural performer who
communicates with great confidence and focus, Rossellini is refreshingly
playful and informative.
 |
| Isabella Rossellini. Photo: Brigitte Lacombe. |
Aided by her performance partners, Rossellini teaches us about
trophallaxis (the mating ritual of defecating on a partner) and “cryptic female
choosing” (a complicated anatomical method that allows female animals to choose
their partners) and many other subjects. I particularly enjoyed the section on
culturally constructed vs instinctively generated gestures in apes. Byers, also
a skilled puppeteer, helps create small constructions or diagrams that
Rossellini uses in her lessons. An incredibly adorable dog named Peter Pan (Pan
for short), is dressed up in different costumes to help Rossellini teach her
subjects.
The performance works because Rossellini is genuinely fascinated
in the subject matter and shares it with an open heart. Her interest is
infectious, and we get excited as she does. Her passion for the subject has led
researchers to name a new species of beetle in her honor, Ptomaphaginus
Isabellarossellinae, which seems extremely appropriate.
The last bit of research Rossellini shares feels particularly
personal. She reverses the common trope of “humans have domesticated the dog”
to “dogs have domesticated humans,” as reflected in how we talk and cuddle canines
as if they were babies. This conclusion rests at the heart of our love of
animals as well as at the forefront of the scientific community’s developing
understanding of animals. This is exactly where Isabella Rossellini belongs,
and every animal lover belongs at this show.
Frederick
Loewe Theatre at Hunter College
119
E 68th St., NYC
Through
May 3
