I’m a cheerleader for Our Own Voice. I’m glad they’re here doing important experimental work in Memphis. It thrills me that they soldier on, in a role that must feel truly thankless at times. If you’re accustomed to reading my reviews, you’re probably already anticipating the, “but.” So let’s just rip the bandaid off quickly, shall we?
Body of Stories, which runs at TheatreWorks through Oct. 15, is slow and shapeless. It has its share of transcendent moments, but often feels more like an ongoing workshop than a completed body of work. And I use “completed” loosely because I appreciate how OOV sometimes builds productions that aren’t finished until the audience shows up to participate — or to not participate. But this one feels like it opened a little too soon, before the group’s collected improvisational work yielded much in the way of revelation or insight.
Kimberly Baker and her ensemble have developed a collection of monologues and multigenerational movement pieces about how we relate to our bodies. This is well worn turf, obviously, but given a political climate where every new day brings a new slate of stories about a serious presidential contender body-shaming people, there’s plenty left to explore. I’m just not sure that this “Moving Exploration,” as it’s subtitled, moves the ball very much.
There’s a monologue about a guy who thinks people who say nice things about his toned physique are actually body shaming themselves in a backhanded way. Interesting premise/humble brag, but without much in the way of development. We hear other, somewhat atypical stories, about esteem-raising compliments in the kind of forum that usually focuses on insults and expectations. Even then, there’s very little in the way of considering what complaints and compliments may mean — And no real conflict pushing the dialogue forward.
There’s not much I enjoy more than the choreography Baker builds using a mix of dancers and non-dancers, and how she finds ways for even the less experienced movers to shine. That’s true here too, although the evenings most playful and poignant moments occur in what appears to be semi-improvisational work between the company’s better trained dancers. Fun, fresh stuff also happens when some of the cast’s younger members are engaged. Kids continue to say the darndest things.
OOV’s goals are vastly different from most companies. There’s no such thing as failure when we experiment, only positive and negative results, all of which can be interesting and instructive. So it’s not uncommon to see an occasional OOV piece that doesn’t feel like it was intended for general audiences (though I suspect the company’s founders can make a convincing case that all the work they do is for everybody). Maybe if Body‘s length was cut in half, and something was done to develop conflict and connect various threads so pieces and parts feel like a body instead of like a coffee house open mic transcript circa 1992, this one might be for everybody too. And maybe it’s for everybody else, just not me.
Oh well, I remain a cheerleader for Our Own Voice: RAH!
