CHALK!

I write and I write and I write. I tap out another thesis and I acquire another grade. Alas, all too often I forget why I started doing this in the first place. But every once in a while I get an opportunity to attend some actual theatre. Ahhhh, the theatre . . . (deep breath) . . . in all its glory. And all too often I’m disappointed. But not this time. SNAFU Dance Company and William Head on Stage have produced a piece for the ages: Chalk! I’m no humanitarian, I have no taste for the avante-garde, and I’m the first to cry ‘Euro-trash!’ when I see it. But not this time. Blurring the lines between childhood folly and adult transgression, Chalk! affords the inmate performers at William Head the opportunity to live out beautiful and terrifying moments of childhood that they never had, or never escaped. I normally raise an eyebrow at how valuable applied theatre can be, but this one may have me convinced. Emotional crescendos of jubilance and pathos pepper the drawn out moments of slow and contemplative physical representation. Particularly talented was the inmate who played ‘Tuk-Took’ (who, as an actor, is required to remain anonymous for legal reasons). He hit a variety of delicate emotions with substantial virtuosity. For a piece that is ostensibly all white, the performance was saturated with colourful emotion. As a fellow grad student, Anne Cirillo is someone I usually see as merely the person with whom I share funding, but her performance was emotionally powerful from beginning to end. The piece gives fresh life to old questions without pretension; it answers none of them. Overall, it was a touch too long. It was clumsy in places, and awkward in others, but delightful through and through. Most of the audience was riveted. The rest were fidgety. Fortunately, I fell into the former category. For a piece entirely void of dialogue, I am an audience member who would normally be proned to fall asleep. But not this time. As a movement performance, I assure you, it was wholly moving.

See you in hell,
Shakes.