Camel Camel is laugh
out loud funny. I left the show wondering
if that's all I was supposed to do, though, or maybe there was some deep
philosophical underlying message that I should be taking away with me?
Janessa Johnsrude and Meghan Frank's show is described as
"David Lynch meets Abbott and Costello." It's definitely strange, weird, surreal, fantastical ... but
it also seems to invite us to question our awareness of self, identity,
dualism, the doppelganger phenomenon.
We're told early on that the story we'll hear is somehow
connected to what's going on in the head of a Ukranian prisoner, then we're led
on a journey of self exploration that seems to include gender bending, gender
confusion, an exploration of sexuality and self discovery where mind over
matter meets matter over mind. The
sisters seem aware of being observed while overtly unaware of their own
selves. "How can I be
beginning and ending all at once?" is one question left unanswered.
The Camel sisters seem to realize they're putting on a show
for us, at the same time they're unrehearsed and unprepared, they fumble around
their characters and costumes, mumbling to themselves and each other at the
same time as they put on their actual show. They seem intent on presenting their outer fabric, their
masks, but entirely unable to hide their inner selves as their characters morph
through various Goddess types and the unruly gin-seeking subservient animal
other that appears and reappears in various forms.
I honestly don't know what I witnessed at Camel Camel, but
I'd go see it again again at the drop of a hat! Maybe next time I can figure out what's part of the play and
what's not, what is the play and how does it connect to the man in prison who
heard his two sister voices? Their
use of the space, their costumes, the screen shadows, the music, the puppet ...
it all left me wondering, as the Camel sisters wondered ... "I'm still me,
are you still you?"
See Camel Camel at Venue 3 - The Metro Studio - Friday the 4th at 8:45 pm, Saturday the 5th at 4:00 pm.
See Camel Camel at Venue 3 - The Metro Studio - Friday the 4th at 8:45 pm, Saturday the 5th at 4:00 pm.
