What I liked
See overall
What I didn't like
My spelling. It’s horrible.
My overall impression
When I walked out of this show, I said to my friend, “It’s amazing how much confidence our damn insecurities have.” They are relentless, and they regenerate at will. The doubt. The fear. The accusations. The temptation to give in and give up.. The you’ve-embarrassed-yourself-agains.. Anyone who is an artist of any sort knows those daggers and deep scars. Who knows what art never existed because those such voices snuffed it at the very first imaginative whim. A Retrospection is the animation of an artist’s struggles to exist and persist within herself and without. Claire Woolner is the ultimate absurdist clown—clowning for us, and clowning for her own survival as she battles the abusive, self-critical mantra, voiced as condescending messages on her phone, from herself, each time she performs a piece, before or after. But she is in rebellion against it. In as committed a performance as I’ve seen, she moves through incredibly clever, almost surreal pieces with movement, mime, music, and mirth while maintaining a direct relationship with the audience, as there is no fourth wall. She wants us in the room. She needs us in the room to get out what’s burning inside. Yet—the show is hilarious. It’s curious, furious, moving, mesmerizing, shocking, beautifully choreographed, and it brought me to a tear. I don’t want to give away any pieces with specific descriptions. Go see the show and enjoy the heights and depth of the experience yourself. I do hope the show gets extended so that you don’t miss out.
