{"id":2918,"date":"2018-07-08T00:54:24","date_gmt":"2018-07-07T22:54:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/?p=2918"},"modified":"2018-07-08T00:54:24","modified_gmt":"2018-07-07T22:54:24","slug":"flotsam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/?p=2918","title":{"rendered":"Flotsam: That sinking feeling"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"I had a dream last night, set on some stage with wings, in which someone asked if there was a notation for dance, to which, in my dream, I answered, \u201cyes, Laban.\u201d And then, in my dream, I understood the meaning of the book in Flotsam: it was the notation of Elu\u2019s ballets. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Except, it wasn\u2019t. I don\u2019t know what the book signified. Nor the little brown teddy bear \u2013 except that it\u2019s all the flotsam of precious things discarded by people who can\u2019t stay psychically afloat. And, here, our protagonist jumps into uncertain currents himself and lands up on some metaphorical island. For what conceptual import? <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

W<\/span>riter <\/span>and <\/span>director Sam Pennington\u2019s narrative and concept are unclear, but the performer, Ryan Napier, is working very hard to bring it to life, whatever it is tr<\/span>ying<\/span> to say. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Through the use of mime, physical storytelling, puppetry, pre-recorded shadow puppetry, soundtrack, soundscape and lighting, the clown works with fervoured concentration to make material this animation of a desired, and needed, personal and social paradigm shift. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

At the end of the show an audience member behind us said: \u201cThat was a <\/span>tour de force<\/i><\/span>.\u201d Yes, on the part of the hard-working performer. But to what end?<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/a>Iaway both narratively and conceptually mystified and neither moved nor elucidated about social or personal issues. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Credits:<\/em><\/p>\n

Writer and director: Sam Pennington<\/em><\/p>\n

Designer: Natasha Warren-Stone<\/em><\/p>\n

Sound: Richard Baker<\/em><\/p>\n

Visual Technicians: Frank Harris and James Fancis<\/em><\/p>\n

Performer: Ryan Napier<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I had a dream last night, set on some stage with wings, in which someone asked if there was a notation for dance, to which, in my dream, I answered, … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2921,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[10,11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2918"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2918"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2918\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2921"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2918"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2918"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}