Richard Foreman has been turning out avant-garde mind-roasters for so long and with such clockwork regularity that we may be in danger of taking him for granted. As reliable as the raising of the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree but a lot less reassuring, Foreman's Ontological-Hysteric Theater offers dense, visually sumptuous productions whose goal seems to be no less than a rewiring of the audience's neural circuits. I, for one, welcome these annual doses of disorientation.
As for this particular show, it's exactly like all the others, only different. There's the black-and-white string stretched across the stage (though it's used more sparingly than usual); the heavily stylized movements; the repetitive, gnomic utterances and voice-of-God narration; the cluttered, whimsical sets; the aggressive color scheme of black, white, and red -- all familiar signposts of Foremanland.
Increasingly (and rather regrettably), the author-director uses his actors as abstract elements in an overall scheme rather than as characters per se. For the record, the performers are Joel Israel, Caitlin McDonough Thayer, Fulya Peker, Caitlin Rucker, and Sarah Dahlen. They play against the backdrop of two huge video screens, which display digital footage shot in Japan and England, and cavort on a wildly skewed set papered with 19th-century "spirit photographs." The whole setup creates a strong, even obsessive doubling motif: two screens, two cultures, two miniature pianos at center stage, two mediums (theatre and video), two realities (matter and spirit). Various inexplicable figures turn up, including a vampire with an eye patch who sings "Me and My Shadow" in a Cookie Monster voice and an enormous hummingbird with American flags sprouting from its head.
It should be pretentious drivel, but it isn't. Like all of Foreman's work, Deep Trance Behavior in Potatoland defies conventional synopsis and easy interpretation, but that's only because he strives so hard to express the inexpressible. Such a goal may be doomed by definition, but watching one of Foreman's plays is still the closest theatrical equivalent to dreaming.
Presented by the Ontological-Hysteric Theater
at St. Mark's Church, 131 E. 10th St., NYC.
Jan. 22 - April 13. Tue., Thu. - Sun., 8 p.m.
(212) 352-3101 OR (866) 811-4111 or www.theatermania.com or www.ontological.com.