Tuesday, September 4, 2007

Theater Review: The Secret War

By Jenni Stewart

Last weekend Firebomb Productions opened a new performance piece with an interesting concept. The Secret War features “The Cosmic Battle League” which is essentially two teams of actors, The Chaldean Enforcers, reigning over Jupiter, Mars, the moon, Uranus, and the Hermetic Pymanders, reigning over Saturn, Neptune, the sun, Mercury, and Venus battling each other. Each evening of performance has two battles and a musical performance after the show by local Dallas music groups.

Opening night presented the battles of Mars vs. Venus and Saturn vs. Uranus. The first pairing between Mars and Venus was an interesting juxtaposition between man and woman- Mars being a very masculine, dominant, loud performance featuring military themes and AK-47s, and Venus being a soft, feminine, interpretive dance focusing on sensuality and sexuality. Both pieces had fantastic language and movement but they were lacking the tight ensemble qualities that really make experimental theater great. Standout performances were given by Drew Wall and Tasia Munoz who to me represented the masculine and feminine perfectly.

Saturn and Uranus seemed to be a much more random pairing than the first, relating through their bizarreness more than anything else. Saturn discussed humanity’s desire for total humiliation before death and Uranus seemed to communicate about and through electric conduits of thought. Both pieces are more enjoyable when you just experience them as they happen, instead of trying to attach meaning or figure out what the plots are about.

The technical aspects of the pieces were good despite the obvious limitations the show and space provided. Costumes (Kari Engelbrecht), scenery, and props (Erin Bailey) were very original and really gave this show a reference point. The lighting (Mike Hawkins) and sound (Phillip Washington) helped this play to communicate as well as set the tone for each piece. Highlights of the evening were guest performances by the hip-hop group Black Chamber as part of Mars and Neena Belly Dancing as a part of Venus.

Director/Writer Darius Safavi has created a fun original concept. At the end of each battle, the audience is encouraged to vote for their favorite planet (don’t worry, it’s secret ballot). The winning planets in the preliminaries will go on to the semi-finals, then the finals, and eventually one planet will be named “Lord of the Universe”.

The Secret War runs through Sept. 22, 2007 at Dallas Hub Theatre. Firebomb Productions has scheduled live bands after each show. Tickets are $10 for the show and music, and $7 for just the music. Call 214-521-7257 to purchase tickets. Check out www.thesecretwar.net and www.myspace.com/thefiretemple for more information.

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Comments

WhitneyTM Anonymous

Be warned...Most if not all of these events have been cancelled. The cancellations are NOT reflected on http://DallasHubTheatre.org, http://TheSecretWar.net, or http://SmartTix.com, where the tickets are sold. So, like I did, you can still get online and purchase tickets (i.e. actually pay for them) to events that do not exist. Apparently the shows were all cancelled at the last minute and no one, including the creators, bothered to change any of the information that was out there. Experimental theater becomes VERY experimental when you get there and it's not happening at all. Avoid this.

1 year ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )