Author | Lisa Markuson
It is a challenge, a puzzle, but one that must be solved from the inside out, and one feels as if one has been swallowed into the belly of a whale. That is, if the whale had also just swallowed a seaside village populated by tragic figures and infused with disturbing magic.
Certainly, The Lady in Red Converses with Diablo, written and directed by Sophia Schrank and choreographed and starring Katya Stepanova, is meant to confuse. Without an explanation or an orientation, it pulls you in to a surreal world, the rich aesthetic detail of which belies a simple story that can be applied to many people, perhaps especially outsiders, rebels, queers, and other non-normative groups.
This immersive, interactive environment is the palette on which the story of the lady in red is painted. It is a paint by number portrait where points must first be excavated before they can be connected. Through a series of rooms and vignettes, the small audience quickly comes to understand that the lady in red, an addled and isolated orphan who has survived alone by collecting ephemera, has fallen in love with and is in desperate pursuit of an unattainable unrequited love: Diablo. We watch, helpless, her vain attempts to assume terrifying, mysterious, and impossible identities to lure him to her. She is naïve, yet tortured and ravenous.
As a queer person often preoccupied with the coexistence of the masculine and feminine, I was particularly interested in an enthralling dance scene. In the scene, classically trained ballet dancer Jesse Carrey embodies the lady in red as a hermaphrodite. His dance, a tense and lyrical fusion of Spanish Paso Doble, ballet and Japanese Butoh, is made all the more surreal by eerie projections, soft music, and his costume of stitched together men’s and women’s undergarments. His torment and inner conflict are breathtaking and beautiful.
Lost in the dozen rooms, transported by projection and light, stunningly intricate stage design, you are guided by the live score provided by Rabbit in the Rye and the searching eyes of the actors themselves. The journey through the world of the lady in red becomes an internal and self-reflective journey; A journey upon which I would invite any questioning and atypical performance patron to embark.
The Lady in Red Converses with Diablo is a totally original interdisciplinary work from In the Basement Theater Company, staged at ARTS@RENAISSANCE (2 Kingsland Avenue) through a grant the group was recently awarded.
It runs Wednesday through Sunday until November 30th, and tickets can be purchased at: https://www.artful.ly/store/
