VUE Weekly reviews Studies in Motion
BY PAUL BLINOV
Eadweard Muybridge’s photographic accomplishments seems almost criminally passed-over by time—his linked chains of rapid fire shots, documenting the movements of humans and animals, naked or otherwise, were the first of their kind and a precursor to cinema, yet his name and influence linger in the footnotes of history rather than having chapters of his own.
As if in response, Vancover’s Electric Company has brought forward a compelling study of the man and his work and life with Studies in Motion: The Hauntings of Eadweard Muybridge. What’s essentially a 19th century period piece gets a futuristic, Tron-like upgrade with its highly developed, clever staging.
The plot, of Muybridge’s relationships and studies in photography, is well told, leaping around in time and space, with Kim Collier’s direction smoothly stringing Kevin Kerr’s short, choppy scenes together: from Muybridge’s early work going uncredited, to setting up a new series of experiments, as well as personal relationships with flirtatious wife Flora, and the crew of young adults who serve as his understudies/models, it all flows.
There’s a lot of nudity up on the Shoctor stage—most of the cast, at one point or another—but it’s not there for shock, and would’ve been remiss not to include, given the amount of nudity in Muybridge’s studies. That’s not to say it wasn’t dealt with—act one ends with a university donor walking in on the preceedings and chiding Muybridge for “hiding behind the camera,” to which the challenged man responds by stripping himself naked and doing the next series of photographs himself, stark naked.
Andrew Wheeler plays Muybridge with the gravitas of Zeus, a billowing white beard and unflinching sternness, capable of shouldering the weight of the man and his ideas. His curmudgeonly exterior seems genuinely lived in; though the script doesn't give us much insight into his mind or actual process, just what he presents to the world. The ensemble that backs him are a strong batch, too, and more than capable of the physical demands of the show.
How the photographic works themselves get staged is where the production’s brilliance becomes apparent. Men freeze, scattered across the stage single file, in various stages of completed motion; illuminated one by one, tracing chain of motion and capturing a series of photographs in a truly lively matter is illustrated with confident technichal finesse, a feat of choreography and directoral ingenuity, and it makes Studies in Motion seem less like straight-ahead theatre and more like clever performance art strung together with a plot, one that just happens to hold up on its own. The opening sequence introduces the concept in a captivating montage of what's to come.
The lighting, too, is notable: comprised of projections and a grid of light, it does clever things like make a river for actors to leap into, or make peepholes in a fence. All in all, Studies in Motion makes a fitting homage to someone who deserves more than his current footnote in photographic history. V
Until Sun, Nov 14 (7:30 pm)
Studies in Motion: The Hauntings of Eadweard Muybridge
Written by Kevin Kerr
Directed by Kim Collier |
