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Poetry and fire in 'Outer Space'
February 7, 2004
Richmond Times-Dispatch, Virginia
Talk about ambition! Capacitor, the self-described "group of intedisciplinary
movement artists" based in the San Francisco Bay area, wasn't content
just to account for the creation of Earth, its moon and other heavenly bodies
in its "Within Outer Spaces" perfomance Thursday night at the Alice
Jepson Theater at the University of Richmond. It threw in the evolution of
living things, culminating in the creation of man. It put all of creation
through the meat grinder of scientific know-how. And it acheived all ths,
plus a fiery encore that had nothing to do with "Within Outer Spaces"
in 80 intense, intermissionless minutes on a bare stage backed by a giant
screen.
The only thing its seven performers didn't achieve was enough humor to leaven
all that intensity.From that early moment when a doubled-up figure spins in
midair on a cable under an eerie blue light while the heavens open up on the
giant screen behind him, "Within Outer SPaces" offers plenty to
amaze as it brings a touch of the poet and a lot of theatrical fire to its
presentation of natural phenomena. Late in the proceedings, when cats appear
to be cavorting on a giant rope cage, until we realize they're not felines
at all but rudimentary forms of life, "Within Outer Spaces" does
provoke a laugh.
Capacitor defies easy catagorization. Dance, as we understand it, plays only
a small role in the proceedings, but the context is infinitly theatrical.
Jugglers, aerialists and acrobats get equal time. So do the spoken word and
an eerie, often cacophonous and highly electronic musical score that evokes
everything from celestial harps to bullfrogs, then throws in "Voyager
radio sounds." That giant screen is in constant motion as it plays its
major role in telling this technologically informed story of creation. And
all the while, the performers costumed in an amazing array of otherworldly
garb, explore the expressive potential of the human body in a wealth of strobe-light
and chemical-haze effects. At one point, the fingers of two performers and
the helmet of a third turn into flame-throwers. At another, two performers
test their limits of togetherness and seperateness while bound together by
elastic cords. Figures may fly down from above or soar off into the wings
at any moment. Call Capacitor's "Within Outer Spaces" a scaled-down
Cirque du Soleil for the philosophically minded. This incredible show, which
will be repeated tonight in the Jepson, appeals equally to the mind and to
the emotions. You might not know what hit you, but you'll be glad it did.
(Roy Proctor)
