WEATHERING

Review by Celia Ipiotis

At a time when the universe is disturbed by the displacement of people from one corner of the globe to the other Faye Driscoll assembles an assortment of people dressed in everyday winter clothes by Karen Boyer on a King-size mattress like-raft in her piece Weathering.

 Positioned the in the middle of the floor, the NY Live Arts’ audience surrounds the mobile, rectangular object overrun with people frozen — or so it seems– in position. They stare out, not seemingly not seeing, until imperceptibly they begin to shift; a look, an arm, knee, foot, hip or back. 

Always still, but never really frozen, the people shift positions and focus at a glacial rate. They lean forward, grab someone’s belt, lose a hat or drop a shoe. Every so often, a person in dark clothes (not unlike a Bunraku puppeteer) pushes the raft so it turns and moves incrementally off of its axis.

Cast members’ voices infiltrate the human sculpture that melts and recombines. At some point, bodies spill off the sides of the platform only to fling themselves back to–safety? community? existence?

Ocassionally, the audience and performers are sprayed with water — is that water splashing from the sea of immigrants? Presented during the annual APAP conference and programmed as part of New York Live Arts’ “Live Artery” Faye Driscoll’s Weathering refocuses attention on human beings in a state of plight.

EYE ON THE ARTS, NY — Celia Ipiotis