Before Your Very Eyes--Gob Squad & Campo (Phile Deprez)
A mixture of joy, sorrow, laughter and tears is an almost assured
response from the audience as seven child actors ages 9 to 14, pretend
to see themselves maturing through progressive stages of life from the
present to old age and death. We see them as they encounter accidents,
relationships, illness, and even the experience of dying in the
remarkably affecting theatrical project Before Your Very Eyes now at the Public Theater.
We first encounter the young actors enjoying each other's company and playing games in a cheerful playroom. Blind Man's Bluff has them chasing each other around the room, then playing jacks on the floor and cards at a table, while a boy shows how expert he is with a hula hoop. Their activities take place behind large one-sided mirrors. Framing the room are two huge video screens. A female voice is heard and we see her instructions projected above. The group, as well as each child, responds to her precise directions and gentle commands.
During the course of their fast-forward trip through life, they apply their own makeup and wigs, and dress up in sometimes ghoulish and sometimes funnily appropriate attire as they affect behavior and mannerisms that they imagine will be them in the future. We also get to see them on the screens as their current selves, friends to the end, ask their future selves questions. This is in realistic child-speak, the result of the young actors' improvisational rehearsal/workshops. To read the entire review please go to:
We first encounter the young actors enjoying each other's company and playing games in a cheerful playroom. Blind Man's Bluff has them chasing each other around the room, then playing jacks on the floor and cards at a table, while a boy shows how expert he is with a hula hoop. Their activities take place behind large one-sided mirrors. Framing the room are two huge video screens. A female voice is heard and we see her instructions projected above. The group, as well as each child, responds to her precise directions and gentle commands.
During the course of their fast-forward trip through life, they apply their own makeup and wigs, and dress up in sometimes ghoulish and sometimes funnily appropriate attire as they affect behavior and mannerisms that they imagine will be them in the future. We also get to see them on the screens as their current selves, friends to the end, ask their future selves questions. This is in realistic child-speak, the result of the young actors' improvisational rehearsal/workshops. To read the entire review please go to:
<a href="http://www.curtainup.com/beforeyourveryeyes.html">curtainup.com
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