Reviews for Death and Giggles and Sole Mate
The LA Weekly
SOCK & SHOE
The "Sock" portion of this pair of clown and puppet acts features former Cirque du Soleil maestro Daisuke Tsuji in the latest incarnation of the nouveau pantomimist's quest to take clowning out of the circus and onto the performance-art stage. Call it clowning for those who hate clowns. "Death and Giggles" (co-created by Tsuji and puppeteer Cristina Bercovitz) eschews the Cirque's more egregious audience pandering and slapstick grotesquerie for an often lyrical and richly metaphoric exploration into the metaphysics of dying. Framed by an ocean-surf drowning, the narrative has Tsuji, who is made up in simple whiteface and dressed in a sports coat and tie, on a balloon-strewn stage, improvising and miming his way through a series of life memories, ranging from a petulant, hyper-active child being called to dinner, to a school cafeteria food fight, to the sexual awakening of adolescence, through adult experiences of love, marriage and loss. Each scene is punctuated by the wit and vivid atmospherics of composer Jonathan Snipes' striking sound design which, in what may be the show's cleverest conceit, is cued by Tsuji's bursting of successive balloons as each, drowning breath is released. The evening's curtain-raiser, "Sole Mate," an ingratiatingly cute exercise in close foot puppetry, has Bercovitz's sneaker sing the titular, romantic ballad (music by Snipes, lyrics by Snipes, Bercovitz & Jessica Erskine) as it searches through Erskine's mismatching footwear for its missing mate. Actors' Gang at the Ivy Substation Theater, 9070 Venice Blvd., Culver City; Fri., 9 p.m. (added perfs Sat., Sept. 26 & Oct. 10, 8 p.m.); thru Oct. 23. (310) 838-4264. (Bill Raden)
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The Front Page
‘Sole Mate and Death and Giggles.’ Some Death. Mostly Giggles. All Magic.
There’s a dose of Cirque du Soleil in Daisuke Tsuji’s Sole Mate and Death and Giggles, which is no surprise given his tour as a clown with the Japanese edition of Dralion. The great physicality in his performance — drawing on all the usual clowning disciplines of mime and physical comedy, and more — matched by the ability to evoke an almost child-like sense of wonder certainly distills an essence of the Cirque. The comparison is apt; Death and Giggles is very much a non-narrative piece of performance art more loosely sketched and surreal than coherent and realistic. While overly obtuse in presenting impressions of a man confronting the memories of life in the afterlife — a critique also common to Cirque du Soleil productions — Mr. Tsuji nevertheless engages with the relentlessly charming and intriguing character of Giggles. From surprisingly direct audience participation stunts to balloons that express emotions and sock puppets, the production is laced with comic absurdity and delight. Mr. Tsuji is not afraid of experimenting with props and comic timing, stretching silences into the carefully structured set-up for a startling, funny payload.
One might suspect that the whole thing aims for the existential — minimal “dialogue,” much ambiguity — only to deliver the pretense of an allegory. The significance of a mock food fight is elusive, especially considering later scenes alluding to grief through the medium of a fabric wall with sinister hidden faces. So, too, are other scenes more like vignettes, infused with the possibility of meaning in terms of the whole but a little too open to interpretation. And while consisting mostly of giggles, death has enough of presence to be a peculiar downer or at least to throw off any semblance of tonal consistency. It’s an artsy tease reminiscent of that crack about an open mind; open is good, but not so open that brains leak out.
If one is to have an experience for the sake of having an experience, however, Death and Giggles is a masterful piece of performance theatre. Always riveting, often hilarious, backed by a quirky yet surprisingly intense score by Jonathan Snipes and chock-full of clever visual gags; it is certainly never boring even when confounding. It may be questionable exactly what it is that hits, but there’s no doubt that the hit is very palpable indeed.
Prefacing Death and Giggles is a less enigmatic piece titled Sole Mate, the sweet ballad of a lone shoe looking for loving companionship. The clever arrangement begins with Cristina Bercovitz standing on a chair and singing into a microphone while manipulating the puppet that is her shoe. Meanwhile, as the shoe sings of its woeful search for a mate, legs and hands provided by Jessica Erskine appear and disappear from behind a screen to punctuate the shoe’s song. It’s wonderfully whimsical and endearing. Paired with Death and Giggles, it makes for an enchanting evening of theatrical merriment.
The Actors’ Gang, in association with Three Chairs Theatre, presents Sole Mate/Death and Giggles. Starring Daisuke Tsuji, Cristina Bercovitz, Jessica Erskine and Eleanor van Hest. On stage at the Ivy Substation until Saturday, Oct. 24. Visit www.theactorsgang.com for more information.
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PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - APRIL 24, 2007
Bold new play Easily Said opens in June
Culver City, CA, April 24, 2007 -- Three Chairs Theatre Company has created a unconventional blend of theatre, dance and live experimental music. Inspired by Peter Bichsel's "The Man Who Didn't Want to Know Anything Anymore," Easily Said is poised for its world premier at the Sony Pictures Black Box Theatre at Culver City High School on June 21, 2007.
Written by members of Three Chairs Theatre Company, this original play investigates the struggle between being unable to continue yet unable to give up. It follows the journey of three women, who must face the trauma of a deadly plane crash that changes their lives forever-a writer who cannot correct her life, a surgeon who cannot get over her guilt and an old woman who discovers an unwelcome truth.
According to artistic director Chosen Kim, the impetus for this piece came from wanting to explore neutrality as an emotional state. "In American theater," says Kim, "actors are often required to go into certain emotional states such as anger, fear or sadness, but reality is not like this. In real life, people often display no emotion when they experience something traumatic. We wanted to create a play that comments on this."
In searching for source material, Kim recalled a writer whom he first came across in middle school in Seoul, South Korea. Popular in Europe and Asia but less so in the United States, Peter Bichsel is known for writing adult fables that are simply written but contain layers of meaning. One short story in particular, "The Man Who Didn't Want to Know Anything Anymore," stood out for Kim. "I cannot help admitting that some part of me has an obsessive sympathy for the characters," he said.
"I felt that it was very appropriate for our project because we were creating characters whose situations were so desperate but that could very easily be ignored by society. You have three women on separate but related journeys dealing with issues that mean a great deal to them. We wanted to call attention that."
This piece is the fifth original production from a group of classically trained actors from UCLA. As with their previous productions, the piece was created through a lengthy rehearsal process involving physical training, research and workshop presentations. Following their critically acclaimed original production of TAPE 39 at EdgeFest 2005 in Downtown LA, the group has been hard at work establishing itself as a unique voice in the Los Angeles theater community. They continue to create theater that challenges conventional story content and staging.
Thanks to a generous grant from the City of Culver City Cultural Affairs Division, the company is slowly establishing itself in the growing Culver City theater scene. True to its mission, the company prides itself on providing hands-on experiences for theater students at West LA College and Culver City High School, where Kim is a faculty member.
Easily Said is written by and featuring Cristina Bercovitz, Shannon Kennedy and Brooke Lykins and directed by Cheolseung Kim. June 21 - 23 and 28 - 30 at 8pm, Sony Pictures Black Box Theater at Culver City High School, 4401 Elenda St., Culver City, CA 90230. Admission is free. For more information, call (310) 837-6068 or visit www.threechairstheatre.com. This performance is made possible in part by a grant from the City of Culver City Art in Public Places Fund with support from the Sony Pictures Entertainment Platinum Sponsorship.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - September 26, 2005
Edgy Tape 39 Premiers at LA's EdgeFest
Los Angeles, CA, September 26, 2005 -- TAPE 39 is a bold new adaptation of Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus by the Three Chairs Theatre Company. It will have its world premier in October at LA's EdgeFest, The Edge of the World Theatre Festival, held this year at the downtown Los Angeles Theatre Center (LATC).
EdgeFest prides itself on presenting innovative pieces that push the boundaries of what is possible and TAPE 39 certainly pushes those boundaries. The Three Chairs Theatre Company has been working together since February, 2005 on this performance. They started with a variety of workshops that helped them understand their source material, the play, Titus Andronicus. During the workshop phase, the actors had no script or assigned role. Each member of the company played all the roles, revealing unexpected sides of the characters and their relationships. The workshops explored this question: When individuals indulge in violence, how far can it go and how easily do they forget the original reasons for their actions?
The result was TAPE 39, a retelling of Titus Andronicus. In this version, writer and director, Choelseung Kim, envisions Aaron, the Moor, as an old, lonely man, searching through the tapes of his memory, looking for the experience that gave birth to the pain that has become his life. He finally discovers it, and his role in creating it, in the story of Titus Andronicus unfolding against the backdrop of a struggling Roman Empire.
This production is unique not only in the story-telling, but also in the staging. According to Kim, "This production is one long breath, starting before the audience enters the theatre and ending after the last audience member leaves."
Because the Three Chairs Theatre Company has been working with this material far longer than most productions do, the actors have had an unusual opportunity to explore the depths of their acting range, their capacity to communicate physically, and their ability to focus intensely for long periods of time. And because they've been rehearsing together for so long, the actors know each other in ways that simply aren't possible with a shorter rehearsal period, which adds an ease and depth to their performance.
According to actor Jonathan Shue who plays Saturninus, the Emperor of Rome, "I am privileged to be able to work with other actors who are so committed to their art and their craft. Being able to finally share our work with audiences will be an amazing climax to this long journey."
Kim, in addition to writing and directing TAPE 39, is the Artistic Director of the Three Chairs Theatre Company. He pushes his stories and his actors to their limits to provide unique theatre experiences for his audiences. His philosophy degree from Yonsei University in Seoul, Korea and his directing degree from UCLA combine to provide a rare sensibility to time-honored works. In addition to his numerous more traditional directing credits, TAPE 39 is his third adaptation of a Shakespeare play. The first was The Ophelia Project, a reinterpretation of Hamlet, which he directed for Culver City's Academy of Visual and Performing Art (AVPA). And last fall, the Three Chairs Theatre Company presented its first production, Why This Farce, a retelling of Shakespeare's King Lear.
TAPE 39 features actors Cristina Bercovitz, Daniel Felixson, Shannon Kennedy, Jim Merson, Jonathan Shue, Bennett Winter Smith and Daisuke Tsuji with scenic and costume design by Shannon Kennedy, lighting design by Francois-Pierre Couture and sound and music by Jonathan Snipes. It will be at the Los Angeles Theatre Center, 514 S. Spring Street October 7, 8, 9, 14, 15, 16, 21, 22, and 23 at 7:00 p.m. Tickets are $15 general admissions, $12 for students with ID, and $8 with an Edgefest Passport. This production is part of the EdgeFest 2005 - The 7th Annual Edge of the World Theatre Festival. For more information, call 310-281-7920 or visit www.edgefest.org.
