ANYWHERE

Review by Celia Ipiotis

A minimal work with maximal implications of the unknowingness, France’s Theatre de l’Entrouvert’s production of Anywhere by Elise Vigneron and Helen Barreau is a mesmerizing duet between a stringed, ice puppet and live dancer/actor.

Of course, when people hear the word “marionette or puppet” they assume it’s for children. Nothing could be further from the truth, particularly when it comes to the ancient puppet traditions from outside the United States.

Inspired in part by the novel Oedipus on the Road by Henry Bauchau, Anywhere extends the ancient Greek tradition of a bard unspooling a timeless tale. Upon learning he unknowingly married his mother, the tragic hero , King Oedipus of Thebes blinds himself and wanders the world with his devoted daughter Antigone at his side.

In a daring duet, Ashwaty Chennatt (Antigone) cradles and protects Oediupus (manipulated by Mark Blashford). The atmospheric lighting by Richard Norwood and Corey Douglas Smith’s audio add to the intimate production’s timelessness.

Positioned in the middle of a frozen pond, the two interact in a poetic space of psychic aura and musings about the fragile state of our ecology. The body and the universe are precariously positioned in this  duet, dueling with the constancy of change, or transformation at HERE.

EYE ON THE ARTS, NY — Celia Ipiotis