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Madame Edwarda Performs Tricksby Anthony Chase |
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Torn Space theater company continues on its avant-garde way with Madame Edwarda Performs Tricks. An original piece conceived by Dan Shanahan, it splices together the work of French author Georges Bataille and the work of Barry Gifford, the author of screenplays for such films as director David Lynch’s Wild at Heart and Lost Highway. Add to this concoction original video sequences, and you’ve got a characteristically Torn Space show.
According to the press materials, “Inside of room 603 in an unnamed hotel, a man dwells inside a parallel universe where he attempts to avoid the quickly approaching destruction caused by the murder of his wife. This fractured crime of love weaves Georges Bataille’s “Madame Edwarda” with Barry Gifford’s “Tricks.” Both stories spiral around a woman who has been created by the dangerously obsessive desires of their male companion. The opposing forces of man and woman play out inside the landscape of deception, while all the characters attempt to hide within the confines of fantasy. “Tricks” winds around its story with evocative sparse dialogue and a claustrophobic mood that places it in the tradition of film noir. “Tricks” contains within it a porthole transporting the performance into a vaudeville presentation of “Madame Edwarda,” where on her ropes and swing the female character continually transforms herself inside The Mirrors, a seedy brothel where the male character hopes to find evidence of God in the grotesque. The stories, in their attempt to deceive, must contend with a soothsayer who takes the form of a ballroom singer. In the end, a knock on the door is the last evidence of an outside world.”
Bataille is the author of such works as “The Story of The Eye” and “My Mother.” Torn Space promises that “he creates erotic prose, which fuse elements of sex and spirituality in a highly personal vision of the flesh.” Barry Gifford wrote “Tricks” as a commissioned work by David Lynch to be developed into an ongoing television series for HBO.
Well! Who could ask for more?
The show, featuring Artie Award-winning actor Hugh Davis, will be performed at the Adam Mickiewicz Dramatic Circle, 612 Fillmore Avenue, November 4th-27th. Friday through Sunday at 8 pm. (And FYI, the Adam Mickiewicz bar has an excellent selection of European beer!)
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Issue Navigation> Issue Index > v4n44: Permanence and Change (11/2/05) > Theaterweek > Madame Edwarda Performs Tricks This Week's Issue • Artvoice Daily • Artvoice TV • Events Calendar • Classifieds |
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