By: Pablo Picasso
At: Theatre O Th Absurd Company at the side studio, 1520 W. Jarvis
Phone: 773-419-5001; $10-$16
Runs through: Nov. 12
BY SCOTT C. MORGAN
Pablo Picasso's Untitled sculpture gracing Chicago's Daley Plaza has lost some of its iconic luster since Anish Kapoor's upstart Cloud Gate ( a.k.a. 'The Bean' ) muscled into Millennium Park.
Both sculptures are interactive: Picasso's 'what's-it' creature doubles as a kid's slide while Cloud Gate's shiny mirror surface reflects and distorts its viewers. But in terms of accessibility, Cloud Gate appeals more to the general public's narcissism than Picasso's head-scratcher.
Interactivity is also built into Picasso's sole play, Desire Caught by the Tail, though it's probably a feature that won't endear it to general audiences. Written in a burst of frustration while living in Nazi-occupied France, Picasso's 1942 play is a nonsensical assemblage of political criticism, vague symbolism and self-indulgent navel-gazing into the life of an artist and his crew.
This defiantly weird play exists more as a historical curiosity than a solid piece of drama. And if it wasn't for its famed creator, Theatre O Th Absurd probably wouldn't be giving this Picasso oddity its Chicago premiere at the side studio.
Back when it debuted, Desire… was likely performed for and by Picasso's close friends and associates in their bohemian digs. Consisting of 12 non-linear scenes of varying length, Desire also boasts two actors depicting a curtain to discuss the play's content directly with the audience.
Alas, the chumminess that probably allowed the play's original audiences to forgive its excesses goes missing when you watch Theatre O Th Absurd's eager cast cavorting around ( especially if you have an unwilling-to-participate audience ) . It's a bad sign when you're more engaged with the questioning and improvising curtain people ( an attractive Adam Glen and Rachel L. Mallard ) than the actors in the written scenes. The actors also carry on with a prideful 'aren't-we-clever-to-be-performing-Picasso' smugness that doesn't help the material.
This storefront theater production also looks fairly drab with its shoestring budget. Some more creative costuming incorporating Picasso's cubism certainly would have enlivened the show. Comparing this production's literalness to, say, the Joffrey's Ballet's colorfully cubist Picasso-designed Parade, suggests that Desire… could have been a feast for the eyes to compensate for the ponderous text.
But as with all modern art and dadaist creations, Desire… is a deliberately obtuse and self-proclaimed 'important artwork' that demands to be open to an individual's personal interpretation. Picasso's 90-minute text allows a visionary director and team of designers to have a field day. Too bad this production lacks the gloss and panache to make this art-for-artists play into something interesting and diverting.
