Ah, Mat visiting...
Theo and I have season tickets for the Great Canadian Theatre Company, and last Tuesday we went to see the show "The Four Horsemen Project". We got an extra ticket for Mat and off we went.
This was a first, for all of us, as The Four Horsemen Project isn't so much a play, but interpretive dance done to Canadian icons The Four Horsemen's sound poetry. While some parts were funny, and entertaining, the majority of it wasn't exactly our cup of tea. While I can appreciate the talent that goes into dance, and went into the script and lines (a lot of tongue twisting phrases!), I wasn't expecting so little acting/plot and wasn't prepared for watching interpretive dance.
To see what I mean please visit the Volcano Web site and watch a streaming clip, or download it to your Mac or PC.
From the Volcano site:
Five years in the making, The Four Horsemen Project is a multi-disciplinary extravaganza conceived and co-directed by Toronto's dance-theatre dynamic duo, Ross Manson and Kate Alton, in collaboration with
Vancouver animation studio Global Mechanic. Live, on-stage, swirling animation and sonic hi-jinx make the poetry of Canada's 1970s avant-garde scene leap off the page and onto the stage.
The show is based on the work of Toronto's original Four Horsemen: Rafael Barreto-Rivera, Paul Dutton, Steve McCaffery and bpNichol. Their outrageously fun sonic poetry is brought to life by a stellar cast of performers, who surprise with their combination of physical and vocal
virtuosity: Jennifer Dahl, Graham McKelvie, Naoko Murakoshi and Andrea
Nann. Animation Director Bruce Alcock (TIFF, Venice Bienale) sets the
visual poetry of bpNichol and the Horsemen to motion. Archival footage from the 1970s is similarly woven into the show. Work-in-progress showings of the material have received tremendous acclaim.
The Four Horsemen Project uses the philosophical goal of the early sound poets themselves as its structural spine: the idea that poetry is far more than words on a page; poetry encompasses sound, breath and the human body. With this remarkable collaboration, a new generation of artists breathes life into some nearly-forgotten work - iconoclastic, brilliant, delightfully irreverent – work that set the whole world on its ear. "The Four Horsemen Project, a reworking of a 1970's piece by Canadian sound poetry ensemble the Four Horsemen, is hilarious and brilliantly
performed"
I'm not sorry I saw it – it was a very interesting experience and I learned quite a bit. But, it hasn't turned me onto going to see other shows. I found it interesting to learn that the authors learned of The Four Horsemen from one of my favorite CBC Radio Shows – The Vinyl Café with Stuart McLean. I appreciate the fact that The Four Horsemen thought poetry was too confined and unnatural by having to rhyme or write it out – the sound aspect is an interesting one that they play with extensively. Great review from when it ran in Toronto before coming to Ottawa The lighting, animation and use of the stage was very well done – I'll definitely give them that!
If you have an open-mind, and $30, it's worth it to check it out and experience some real Canadian talent, and history.
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