A Thought About Raya

'kül: PLAY: "A Thought About Raya"
2/23/08 10:20 PM
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PLAY: "A Thought About Raya"
Photo/Ericka Heidrick
Few people right now
are happy about losing
their Broadway tickets,
but I was ecstatic,
since it gave me the
opportunity to catch
the limited run of The
Debate Society's first
play, A Thought About
Raya. This play, based
on the work of Daniil
Kharms, also provides
insight (if The Eaten
Heart and the
upcoming Untitled
Auto Play are any
indication) into the
largely vignette-based
plays of TDS. Raya is
their most nonlinear,
an experimental predecessor, but the looseness of the
evening allows for great stage magic. Anything can happen
on Oliver Butler's stage: Kharms's unpredictability enables it,
as do Butler's collaborators, the wonderfully frazzled and
excitable Hannah Bos and her straight man, the deliberate
yet modest Paul Thureen. The years spent as a tight-knit
http://thatsoundscool.blogspot.com/2007/11/play-thought-about-raya.html
about me
Aaron Riccio
I am a creative
writer, critic, and
editor. I'm also more
opinionated than you.
That's just my opinion, of
course.
View my complete profile
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'kül: PLAY: "A Thought About Raya"
2/23/08 10:20 PM
company have only solidified the chemistry between
performers, and their dedication to Butler's staging is
impeccable, allowing for realism to abruptly turn to fantasy,
as when Daniel (or Daniil), who is trying to write, suddenly
finds that his arms have become literal utensils.
Once the plastic curtain that divides us from the performers
is ripped down, the show is an exciting romp through the
absurd ideas that Daniel has covered the floor with. Each
piece is wildly different from the next, and they erratically
jump, loop back, and reverse themselves, just as with
Kharms's own writing. It's quite enabling, so long as you stop
looking for meaning: a stick of butter, swallowed in one
scene and regurgitated later on, is just a stick of butter,
with inherent comic value, and nothing more. Absurdism is,
by nature, better suited to comedy than drama, but the
melange of ideas allow TDS to dip into a little of everything,
as with a tragic, almost balletic, drowning. In one moment,
Bos and Thureen recounting a series of increasingly gory
murders, all while gleefully shuffling around a suitcase in a
vaudevillian jaunt; later, the two stand before us, silently
appraising the audience in their attempt to follow the
voiced-over directions on humor: "Stand silently until
someone laughs." Few performers can get away with such
stunts, but based on my experiences with TDS, I suspect they
can get away with just about anything, and I'm happy to let
them do so.
Posted by Aaron Riccio at 7:40 PM
Notes: A Thought About Raya, Hannah Bos, Oliver Butler, Paul Thureen,
The Debate Society
0 observations:
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Washington Square News - A demented excursion into the avant-garde
2/23/08 10:22 PM
< Back | Home
A demented excursion into the avant-garde
"A Thought About Raya": The Red Room
By: Maureen Belluscio
Posted: 4/2/04
In "A Thought About Raya," Hannah Bos and Paul Thureen bring Russian poet Daniil Kharms'
revolutionary vision of absurdism and the avant garde to life with an exploration of the dialectics of sex and
violence, love and death, and destruction and chaos. Images assume the quality of fantasy, dream and
nightmare, portraying the outward appearance of the author's inner reality.
The play is a darkly comedic representation of Kharms' short works, which are intertwined to form a piece
that is at once vulgar and yet strangely poignant. Excerpts from the author's once-banned children's stories,
letters and anecdotes follow in rapid succession and end as abruptly as they begin, irrationally, with
seemingly no connection from one story to the next.
However, making obvious connections is neither the point nor the aim of this production. This piece works
as a window into Kharms' perhaps troubled mind, giving voice to snatches of thoughts that are both morbid
and amusing, and it is characterized throughout by coincidence and violent disjunction from reality.
Co-creators Bos and Thureen star in this homage to the virtually unknown St. Petersburg author, whose
writings led to his arrest and eventual death in Stalinist Russia in 1942.
The actors display seemingly boundless energy as they chase each other around the stage, dancing wildly,
throwing paper and screaming at the top of their lungs, but their evident talent is not for a second
overshadowed by these wild antics. The pair enraptures the audience from the production's start to its abrupt
finish.
"I would write some more, but the ink pot has suddenly gone and disappeared," they say in unison as the
stage blackens, the bizarre finally giving way to the real.
Kharms' stories are part fable, part autobiography and part pure fantasy, and director Oliver Butler's vision
adds an intensely voyeuristic feel to the production. He has created a controlled chaos that serves the play
well as a rendering of Kharms' questionable mental state.
During the short story, "The Obstacle," Thureen's hands become a giant fork and spoon. Later Thureen
dances with the limp body of the supposedly dead Bos, during a nightmarish scene in which a murderer
defends himself regarding the treatment of his victims.
"Raya" is as well-planned as it is well-performed. An understated set and minimalist dialogue contrast with
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Washington Square News - A demented excursion into the avant-garde
2/23/08 10:22 PM
the rapid action between the sometimes nameless characters, allowing the production to make its mark
without entirely overwhelming the senses.
The play does not abandon high production values in favor of bizarrely shocking interludes. "Raya" is an
alternative reality, an intimate view into Kharms' mind and work, where the lines between reality and
fantasy are so blurred that one questions where the line between the author's own fiction and his biography
lies. Although this production is definitely not for everyone, the determination of all involved is refreshing,
and their talent extraordinary. €¢
© Copyright 2008 Washington Square News
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