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Austin360 blogs > Austin Arts: Seeing Things > Archives > 2009 > April > 30
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Review: Forced Entertainment’s ‘Spectacular’ at Fusebox
The spectacle in “Spectacular” is all imaginary. It’s the stuff of a show that characters only talk about, never perform. Instead, on a stripped down stage, armed only with a microphone, a few spot lights, and a skeleton-painted sweat suit, Forced Entertainment operates purely in the theatre of the mind.
“Spectacular” consists of 90 minutes of an actor in a skeleton suit discussing the show he’d normally be putting on, occasionally interrupted by an actress’ prolonged death scene.
For starters, Robin Arthur would usually enter, following a lengthy warm-up act, down a long staircase to take center stage, a frightening, provocative appearance, he says. Instead, Arthur presents an affable, pot-bellied professional in sagging sweats, simply conversing with the audience about his doubts, desires, and, of course, this other spectacular show.
For her part, Claire Marshall’s death is protracted enough to make even Shakespeare’s Bottom grimace at the liberties taken and imaginary guts spilled—but only because she’s done him one better. Ranging from comedically large spasms to quiet, gasping shudders, Marshall’s death is an odd counter-point to Arthur’s quiet musings.
And, thankfully, that’s the show: a monologue exploring the technique of theatre, the emotions it provokes—the mental—all mashed up with not just the visceral, but mimed viscera. Both levels are compelling alone. Arthur is provocative in asking questions, entertaining in his role as a death’s head jester, and, when he describes what the audience’s reactions usually are, emotionally and hypnotically affecting. Marshall explodes one of theatre’s oldest gags to its fullest, for both laughs and, mirroring her often striking contortions, pain.
It’s when the two combine that they make you grateful this is the show you’re seeing, not some extravaganza with dancers and a house band. Whether that’s Arthur critiquing Marshall’s performance or simply standing over her, a seemingly leering skull next to a dead body, together the two can prompt the heartiest laughs or chilling goosebumps. The swings, though deftly accomplished, between both tones and often-competing focus points can be draining, but that only adds to the overall experience.
With the Fuse Box Festival drawing to an end, be thankful it was able to draw the company from the UK. More importantly, make sure not to miss it.
(“Spectacular” continues Thursday and Friday at 7 p.m. at the Long Center, 701 W. Riverside Dr. $15. 512-524-2041, fuseboxfestival.com.)
Joey Seiler is an American-Statesman freelance theater critic.
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NEA announces Texas arts grants of $1,884,500
The National Endowment for the Arts announced today that it has awarded 32 grants totaling $1,884,500 to Texas arts groups. As part of the awards, the Texas Commission on the Arts received $1,025,500 to support NEA/TCA partnership activities.
The NEA is distributing a total of $82,477,100 to the nation’s arts groups.
New York is receiving $10,239,900; California, $5,586,800.
You can read the full list of grant recipients here.
Central Texas groups receiving NEA funding are:
Austin Classical Guitar Society — $40,000
CATEGORY: Learning in the Arts
FIELD/DISCIPLINE: Learning in the Arts
To support the Educational Outreach Program. Classical guitar instructors will provide weekly individual lessons for economically disadvantaged students and will assist with the direction and curriculum planning of guitar classes in Austin-area schools.
Conspirare — $30,000
CATEGORY: Access to Artistic Excellence
FIELD/DISCIPLINE: Music
To support a compact disc recording of a new choral-orchestral work by composer Eric Whitacre. The concert-length oratorio will merge classical, jazz, and rock idioms.
EmilyAnn Theatre — $15,000
CATEGORY: Learning in the Arts
FIELD/DISCIPLINE: Learning in the Arts
To support Shakespeare Under the Stars, a summer youth theater program. High school students will learn all aspects of performance and technical theater through this hands-on program.
Rude Mechanicals — $20,000
CATEGORY: Access to Artistic Excellence
FIELD/DISCIPLINE: Theater
To support a national tour of The Method Gun, an original, company-developed work. The piece will explore the life, ethos, and techniques of a fictional actor-training guru as recounted through the eyes of her students.
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Mexic-Arte wants to stay put, remodel
After asking Austin voters for $5 million in bond money for a new facility at a new location, Mexic-Arte Museum leaders now say they want to remain at their Congress Avenue site and improve the building they had decided to demolish.
In 2006, Mexic-Arte received $5 million as part of a voter-approved $567.4 million bond package. The money was earmarked to help build a $25 million museum on the city-owned Mexican American Cultural Center campus.
But now, museum leaders say a combination of the economic downturn plus a desire to stay at its highly visible downtown location at Fifth Street and Congress Avenue has led them to decide to stay put and consider a more modest plan to remodel their three-story building.
The museum seeks an agreement that would have the city lease the museum long-term and then re-lease it back to the museum. The city struck a similar agreement with the State Theatre, now managed by the Austin Theatre Alliance, which received $1.9 million in city bond money to help remodel the venue at 719 Congress Ave. (The State ceased operations in 2006 after a water main break flooded the stage and basement.)
If the council approves Mexic-Arte’s plan to stay put, the museum would be the second major arts venue to refurbish its Congress Avenue home. The contemporary arts organization Arthouse is about to begin work on a $6.6 million major renovation of its building at 700 Congress Avenue. The Arthouse project is being paid for entirely with private money. Arthouse bought its building, once a theater and then later a department store, with donations in 1997.
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Austin Arts Hall of Fame inductees 2009 named
Without them, our artful Austin landscape wouldn’t be as rich.
Creators, organizational founders and philanthropists — the 2009 inductees to the Austin Arts Hall of Fame represent the wide talents needed to grow and sustain a creative culture.
This year the Austin Critics’ Table honors the following people and welcomes them to the Austin Arts Hall of Fame:
- Bonnie Cullum, founder Vortex Repertory Theatre
- Daniel Johnson, founding director Texas Early Music Project
- Mary Margaret Farabee, philanthropist and arts supporter
- Sylvia Orozco, founding director of Mexic-Arte Museum
- Alexandra Nadal and Eugene Slavin, dance leaders
- Damian Priour, sculptor
The 2009 Austin Arts Hall of Fame honorees will be celebrated at the Austin Critics’ Table Awards. The informal awards ceremony is free and open to the public. The Austin Critics’ Table is in independent group of critics from the Austin American-Statesman, the Austin Chronicle and Might Be Good.
Austin Critics’ Table Awards
7 p.m. June 1
Cap City Comedy, 8120 Research Boulevard
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