My overall impression
originally published on The Local Looking Glass at http://bit.ly/1m2KMSd
When I was drawn to what I was seeing in The Kharmful Charms of Daniil Kharms by ARTEL, I was disturbed but then later delighted with myself. The show, directed by Olya Petrakova, runs at Schkapf as part of the Hollywood Fringe Festival this year.
Violence, gore, fear, terror—all of these were present in heaps. But oh, the whimsy, the color, the style with which they were illustrated…it was like watching the doom of humankind painted before your eyes in lavish textures and whimsical cartoon.
It is at this point in a performance review that you will usually find some kind of plot summary, but alas (or perhaps hallelujah), Kharmful Charms outlays no such easily extractable storyline. The show is a collection of vignettes derived from Soviet-era Russian writer Daniil Kharms’ poetry. However, the abridged festival production is far from meandering. The tightness of the ARTEL (American Russian Theatre Ensemble Laboratory) ensemble’s work and the performers’ high energy in each vignette emanates contagious joy. Just try to look away while watching the show.
Kharmful Charms is a much-needed European voice on the American and Los Angeles stage. ARTEL’s ensemble work was ripe with the emotional rawness attributed to Polish theatrician Jerzy Grotowski’s work, i.e. “poor theatre”. How refreshing—something that is not commercial and not aiming for a big Hollywood break but is about artistic style, the communal experience of theatre-going, and the rawness of making-do in life.
I look forward to seeing more work from the promising ensemble at ARTEL…
