Noon-Hour Elliptical Theatre: Purple plum perfection
Sarah Caufield, Arts Editor
The lights dimmed and the audience was plunged into . . . Italian? Susan Bertoia graced the Simon Fraser University theatre for Plum and Other Colours, last week's noon-hour performance, and transformed the room into a vibrant, frenetic, but above all colourful world for an hour. Leaping from the character of a child to an old Italian woman, from an art gallery to a plum tree, the show might be termed borderline schizophrenic, but it was never uninteresting.
When Bertoia first appeared on the stairs behind the audience, I had no idea what to expect. Suddenly, in a colourful burst of Italian, her character ran through a short soliloquy. For those of us who are somewhat Italian-challenged, all we got was a tongue running at an incredible speed, some distinctive actions that somehow fit, and the names of colours blending into it somewhere along the way. After laughing somewhat nervously, it took only a tiny bit of encouragement from Bertoia to solicit applause before she did the exact speech again, but with a manic excitement this time. Which made the third, sad version seem all the more depressed.
Plum was born out of the desire to "just create something," Bertoia explained afterwards. An instructor at the University of British Columbia with great influences from the Commedia Dell' Arte, Bertoia calls Plum "elliptical theatre," which seems fitting, as each segment of the show has a genuinely unique style of its own. Plum is made up of a series of short pieces, all performed by Bertoia with precious few props. And yet, somehow, each vignette stands alone. A simple sharp turn is enough to mark a new chapter onstage, and overall the segments are developed enough to hold their distinction. Some, such as her opening piece, had the feel of looking at modern art - you don't entirely know what it is or what it means, or maybe those lines and colours are just lines and colours. But hey, it sure looks pretty! Other pieces had the audience caught up in a vivid, tangible world. For example, her Old Italian Woman had us caught up in her loneliness and frustration with her husband (there's nothing better than aggressive frustration spoken with an Italian accent). Or her Woman Wearing Red, horrified by the ballcaps and logos and teals, but collected because she's [hand: sharp across the face and down] Wearing Red.
Plum is Bertoia's first solo piece, but hopefully it will not be her last. Her presence onstage is riveting - intriguing as much as it is entertaining. Her ability to conjure up the Italian presence on such a sparse stage, to bring life to an umbrella or to stones attached to a piece of wood, is remarkable. Her performance demands the attention of everyone in the room, and I'm sure that I was not the only one sorry to realise that the performance had reached its end.
Unfortunately for you, you missed out on a marvelous free show here at SFU. But Plum and Other Colours will be making its way onstage October 21 - 23 at the Frederic Wood Theatre at UBC. Before you miss out on more, though, show up at the SFU theatre at 12:30 this Thursday for Issui Minegishi's unique musical performance in The Zen of One String.