Creator Performer: Ana Craciun-Lambru
Studio Theatre UCONN
24 March 2016
DUST
is cubist theatre.
Elements
of the work are looked at from several view-points.
Those view-points sometimes come from different places or different times.
We
often see the same moment in time from the perspective of different people.
Dust
is cubist in many ways.
The
story is passed from medium to medium as the play continues. Sometimes the primary narrative line is
passed from the actor, to the puppet, to the performing object, to the shadows
that are being projected.
With
all of this abstraction, metaphor and implication the story might be in danger
of becoming diffused, but it does not.
One
of the most important lessons in the performing arts is to “respect your audience.”
Ana Cracuin-Lambru respects her audience and is not afraid to share her
emotions, her history and her theatrical method. This is what we hope for, not
just from puppet theatre but from all theatrical productions.
This
work can be fully appreciated by both adults and school age children. It is
also informative because it shows us that puppet theatre can be much more than
a silly Punch and Judy show.
The
opening trope of the work turns a sewing machine into a cow using high heel
shoes as the horns then adding a cowbell and a milk pail. The cow Craciun-Lambru builds on stage looks
like a sculpture by Picasso.
Although
the work is abstract it is full of emotion.
We feel anxiety for what
we know is going to happen next, hoping against
hope that she escapes from the burning Triangle Shirtwaist Factory building.
Craciun-Lambru
changes from a shy child, to an old father, to a young woman setting out to
explore the world. She is a girl on an
adventure.
The
sewing machine becomes, among other things, a fire truck, a cow, and the
Triangle Shirt waist building on Washington Square.
The
earth-color tonalities that run throughout the stage picture help set the mood
and attune our senses to the story being told. We see umber, burnt sienna,
brown madder, and grayish blue. The combination of the lighting and the color
palate helps draw us into the story and the mood of the piece
Dust
is a work of American history and Romanian history and an essay on cubist
historiography.
Lighting
a stage for three different shows that allow very little time between pieces,
in a theatre that has limited space for placement of instruments, is not an
easy task. It is one that lighting designer
Daniele Vekennes manages with both creativity and professionalism. Sometimes
frontlight was used to give a bright presence to the actors, puppets,
performing objects, and set pieces, but when she wants a more sculpted look she
comes in from the wings at a sharper angle. The angularity works particularly
well in setting off the stark reality of tragical-history in Dust by
Craciun-Lambru. The photos in my essays on this evening of puppet performances
are all by Gerry Goodstein.
