What I liked
“Occupation” will haunt you. While we go about our daily business determined not to believe that the world as we have known it is coming to an end, there is a still small voice within us that asks, “But what if….”
Because even a limited amount of historical knowledge confirms that Rome fell, 2 world wars happened, and that peace is the period between two wars.
In “Occupation,” the worst nightmare has occurred and yet somehow — and the somehow is at the crux of the story — life goes on. The 5 women in “Occupation” have been required to burn down their old selves and assume new functions — and choose which side they are on in so doing. Using dance, a small amount of extremely effective video, and the echolalia of a Greek chorus, the women speak to the audience, rarely to one another, and as they slowly expose how they are interrelated and begin to share scenes, the tension which surrounds their living situations never lets up. Jenny Ashe is commanding as the Tatoo Mother who has lost her own daughter in a way that slowly reveals itself, and in reckoning with the loss, finds her life’s work. She will overcome. The others, perhaps not.
What I didn't like
My overall impression
“Occupation” will haunt you and the thread of tension ropes you in from the start and never lets up.
