The Rice Thresher, Vol. 90, No. 24, Ed. 1 Friday, March 28, 2003 Page: 14 of 28
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14
THE RICE THRESHER ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT FRIDAY,MARCH 28,2003
} 'ASKING STRINGS ANI) Fl SUING HI TTONS
Eerie dystopia pulls strings to satirize self-destructive artist'
Carly Kocurek
THRESHER EDITORIAL STAFF
The Noblest of Drugs is creepy —
not creepy in a Hellraiser or Hallow-
een way, mind you. No, this puppet
show is creepy more in a "reasons not
to spend too long in the surrealist
gallery at the Menil Collection" way.
w
'the noblest of
drugs'
Infernal Bridegroom/
Bobbindoctrin
Rating: (out of five)
Thursday through Saturday
through April 12.
www.infernalbridegroom.com
for details.
Resulting from a collaboration
between Infernal Bridegroom Pro-
ductions and Bobbindoctrin Puppet
Theatre, The Noblest of Drugs is
based on scenes and images from
the art and life of Stanislaw
Witkiewicz. Witkacy, as he called
himself, was a Polish artist who lived
his life believing an artist must self-
destruct in order to create.
Joel Orr, artistic director and
founder of Bobbindoctrin, wrote the
play after his research on Witkacy
filled him with "contempt and out-
rage" at the artist's theories on the
creative cycle.
Paintings by Katie Jackson com-
pose the sets, which fit well with the
overall aesthetic of the puppets by
Yelena Zhelezov (who also designed
the set). The show suggests the nar-
cotics-laced Saturday morning car-
toons, or perhaps a set of grimy action
figures heated to melting point.
The actors voicing the puppets add
to the surreal nature of the show. The
HP" •
Bobbindoctrin designer Dennis Clay sits down for a drink with the puppet Stan, star of The Noblest of Drugs.
deformed puppets move erratically
and speak in nightmare cartoon voices.
The puppet show opens in the bed-
room of Stan (Cary Winscott) as he
comes to after a long night He ex-
presses outrage at the unflattering
nature of his self-portrait, then real-
izes his friend Edgar's fiancee J adwiga
(Melissa Winter) is also in the room.
Through the rest of the day, Stan
tries to figure out how to handle
Jadwiga, Edgar (Keith Reynolds),
his mother Qodi McLaughlin), his
dealer (Keith Reynolds), the law and
a "dangerous" woman, Jadwiga Qodi
McLaughlin).
As might be expected, the play is
littered with sex, drugs and black
humor. Orr's cleverest convention
in the script is placing his charac-
ters in a totalitarian society where
art is illegal. Stan buys his art sup-
Call for Nominations
2003
Julia Mile Chance Prize
For Excellence in Teaching
Nominations are being sought from Rice students for the Julia Mile
Chance Prize for Excellence in Teaching.
The Chance Prize will be awarded to an Associate or Full Professor
at Rice University who not only provides students with intellectual
challenge and inspiration in their field of study, but who has also
shown extraordinary dedication to students' professional
development and advancement, both inside and outside the
classroom.
The specific purpose of the award is to recognize a range of factors
in teaching excellence. More generally, it is intended to enhance
and facilitate gender sensitive faculty leadership at Rice.
Undergraduate students, graduate students or alumni who would
like to nominate a faculty member for the Chance Prize should
submit a letter of nomination to Chance Prize Selection Commits
The letter should specifv.boiv./frg fomkpire, support and encourage
students to achieve their intellectual and professional goals.
Information is sought on such activities as extraordinary support of
student research, advising, mentoring, innovative teaching, career
interests, or other professional interaction or activity that has
changed or had a significant impact on students' lives or
prospective careers.
Both individual and group letters will be considered. In the letter
case, all nominators should sign the nomination letter. Nomination
letters should be sent by April 11, 2003, to:
Chance Prize Selection Committee
c/o Dr. Walter W. Isle, Vice Provost
Office of the Provost, MS-2
Rice University, P.O. Box 1892
Houston, TX 77251-1892
(If further information is needed, email wwsile<"S'ricc.edu)
plies from the same pusher that sup-
plies his cocaine habit and also has
to cover his tracks to avoid the art
task force.
This is the art
world gone wrong
and laid bare.
The show is as painful as it is
funny — watching is a sensation not
unlike being tickled until you cry.
Stan's predicament may be laugh-
able (after all, how seriously should
the audience take theater), but he
himself is clearly the cause of most
of his problems. He treats the people
around him as if they were dispos-
able. Orr's script does not give Stan
endearing qualities to hide behind.
This is by far the darkest artistic
treatment of the art world I've seen.
Stan may think art will redeem him,
but during the course of the play, he
PHOTO COURTESY INFERNAL BRIDEGROOM PRODUCTIONS
never produces anything. He lives in
his mother's house and escapes to his 4
studio where he binges on cocaine
and sweet-talks Czeslawa, but never
gets around to sketching or painting.
The play keeps alluding to some
ultimate redemption, but the promise
of Stan's redemption is only a tease. At
his core, Stan remains a wash-up —
what any asshole artist would have 1
been had he never gotten around to
painting, writing or composing.
The dark outlook is surprisingly
refreshing, coming from a sector of
society that is notoriously self-
celebratory. This is the art world
gone wrong and laid bare. 4
The title of the show is taken
from a quote by Witkacy: "Art is an
escape, the noblest of drugs, that
can transport us to another world
without bad effects on the health or
the intelligence." Art may be "the
noblest of drugs," but for Stan, it ^
remains nothing but another drug,
another excuse, and ultimately, an-
other dead end.
Cameos worth looking at
DIALOGUE from Page 13
generic, and seemed to not be-
long to any fixed era.
There are great cameos
(Banetjee steals the scene without
saying a word), and Dickerman
delivers some great laughs. These
are not enough at times to keep the
s^1(Wizigx,s "performance lacks
luster and borders on being
slightly obnoxious.
Her facial expressions work
well, and frankly overshadowed
her vocal performance. She has
great moments when Corie needs
to be pouty, yet her interactions
with Hogan are stilted and formal.
The relationship between
Corie and her mother is forced;
the actresses seem to be uncom-
fortable with each other or their
parts. Had the chemistry been
better, the characters wouldn't
be so static.
Direction from Jones sopho-
more Cielo Contreras lacks defi-
nition. The characters appear to
have no clear purpose, the block-
ing is confined, and the stage
was not curtained off properly
(making backstage clearly vis-
ible) . The greatest problem stems
from the ability of the show to
hold the audience's interest. This
is not a fault of the script as much
as it is a fault of incohesive nature
of the production. It does not gel
right.
Overall though, the set de-
sign has great depth, is nice to
ISShftkiVltf wfffT'the" script and
Simon would be proud of the bare
bones of human love and spirit
contained in the white walls of
this apartment on 48th Street.
Contreras uses what resources
she has well, and has stayed true
to the Simon sense of humor.
She didn't waste the good mo-
ments, unfortunately most of her
actors did.
Perhaps the greatest asset the
show has is Tramel. Tramel de-
livers a high-energy perfor-
mance, great physicality and bril-
liant timing. It is a joy to see him
on stage, and it is a shame the
cast can't keep up with his sharp
pace and excellent presence. I
can't say enough wonderful
things about him.
All in all, Barefoot in the Park
provides a pleasant, moderately
chill sensation, much like walk-
ing through wet grass, barefoot,
in the park.
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Rustin, Rachel. The Rice Thresher, Vol. 90, No. 24, Ed. 1 Friday, March 28, 2003, newspaper, March 28, 2003; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth442985/m1/14/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.