Larry Litt
Sin Cha Hong's GODOT
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Sin
Cha Hong in "Godot" at La MaMa. |
November 20 to 30, 2008
La MaMa E.T.C. (Annex Theater), 74A East Fourth Street
(Presented by La MaMa E.T.C.)
Thursdays through Saturdays at 7:30 pm; Sundays at 2:30 pm
No performance November 27 (Thanksgiving)
$25/tdf; Students and seniors $20; Children $10. Box office 212-475-7710;
www.lamama.org
SHOW'S WEBSITE: www.sinchahong.com/godot_eng
Reviewed Nov 22, 2008 by Larry Litt
Korean born international dancer/choreographer Sin Cha Hong's new solo piece is an engaging meditation on one woman's obsession with Samuel Beckett's enigmatic 1953 play "Waiting for Godot." Hong's character is an older woman, remembering her glorious past, lazily and luxuriously living in the present, while clearly fearful of the future's uncertainties.
Dressed in a flowing white silk gown, Hong awakens to another day of ease and pleasure. She moves through the morning catching the sun, bathing in her private pond, moving through time and space without apparent direction.
When she returns from an adventurous shopping trip with a suitcase full of shoes, she discovers three pairs are fine women's shoes she purchased, but one pair is the same worn to death boots of Estragon's passion. These are the boots he takes off and puts on to mark time in the eternal void of his life. Hong is mesmerized by these boots, they come to possess her, give her life new meaning and imbalance. Unfortunately that affect leads to a roller coaster of emotions that almost destroys and eventually renews her life force.
The dance's verbal silence is broken by a meditation on ego and death, questioning ego-death, a very Buddhist concept yet a fitting monologue for Hong's character. I'm sure Beckett would have thrilled to be in such company.
A live soundscape by David Simons, the music and sonic potency that accompanies Hong along this journey, adds an elevated sense of place, an ascendance to a higher plane where sound is minimal but achieves maximum ethereal impact.
Lighting the stage to create depth and distance, David Moody designs dream spaces for Hong to cross on a boundless stage with her energy and fire.
Godot is a fitting tribute to artists by an artist. You will leave inspired and encouraged by Hong's sincerity through her homage to a great play.
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