Ouroboros - Impressions, Thoughts.

Here are some considerations (in no particular order, posed as questions). What was that very first moment in your life when you felt the desire/need/excitement to modify or change your looks, your body? Example, young girl putting on lipstick. What is it about the seemingly spontaneous blossoming of a flower that is so magical? What are the attributes and features of creativity? When do you purposely make a mess of something only to end up with a work of art? What factor might creativity play in our relationships with one another throughout our lives, or our relationship with the natural world, the world we live in? If you look closely at a caterpillar what do you actually see or imagine? Why do we admire butterflies and hate cockroaches? These were some of the depictions in Ouroboros, presented at Live Theatre Workshop's Etcetera. I saw the performance on Sunday eve past. But before I talk further about that I have to have my brief say about three things which I don't like, a couple of recent trends and activities in theatre and a relic of the past. Ouroboros, this is not at your expense, just on your time so to speak. I haaaattttteeee pre-curtain announcements. But if you have to say something, say it in the foyer. All the ticket selling, turn off your phones, exits, etc, it is too much for an "old-timer" like myself and as an artist I think it goes wholly against the grain of having spectators step inside of a performance space. I hhhaaaattteee notes in the program. Not as much as pre-curtain announcements because I usually don't read them anyway. But what is the point? I say let the work on the stage just be. I'm anti-cleverness, anti-intellectualism, anti-everyone was great to work with, anti-all program notes. I haattteee blackness in the theatre. Black curtains, black costumes, black scenery, etc. If there is one thing that I regret about Stanislavsky/Meyerhold it is their invention of the black box theatre and all it's trappings of blackness. There, all done. That said and those aside, I may yet need to make mention of the development of Ouroboros - the what, when, where, how and why of it. But not yet. The first craft element that I noticed as a spectator in this performance was the music, which played throughout, as a recorded track. It was dominant and prevalent in setting the mood and tempo for what happened on stage. In this regard, the performance seemed much like a traditional dance performance, but at times it had "un-traditional" (as opposed to non-traditional) movements and activities happening. There was a theme that unfolded throughout, although there was an inconsistency to the logic of the events - or maybe I should say I could not discern any logic in the events. And by this I am referring to stage logic - not everyday ordinary logic. And yet there was a certain charm overall to the performance which I found to be refreshing and exciting. Youth abounded. And given that there were moments of genuinely enthusiastic and optimistic creation as well as moments of the worst kind of generalized energy and excitement that happens on stage. But! We suffer growing pains gladly to get eventually to the beauty of our art. And to get to the heart of the matter now. This was a production that was daring in its origin - even if that "dare" ness didn't always make it into the work itself. And it is commendable in many respects and I would be at fault not to mention some of them. Ouroboros was crafted and devised by five students from the University of Arizona, working together as a creative unit. They were "assisted" perhaps by Matt Walley as Director and Angela Horchem is listed as a "creative collaborator." But no doubt the bulk of the content and the actual activities we saw on stage were a result of the five students and their collaborative process. From nothing, using almost nothing, came Ouroboros, this series of interesting actions and human behaviors, depictions of the mind, feelings, and sensations of these five young people and their collective perspective on life. Where does the sidewalk end? Where does childhood stop and adulthood emerge? When do we change from having that fascination with nature to fighting against nature itself? What is funny, what is important, what is crap, what is sex, what is simplicity and what has any meaning at all? When do we learn who we are and what are bodies do and what happens to them over time? Consciously or unconsciously the students provoked these questions in the moment. Or at least gave them some kind of depiction set to music. Look into the final performances this week and go!