Aman’s show fell into three distinct parts. The first of these was delivered by a rather stiff character, wearing evening dress and a mask.
He appeared to be addressing the members of a bar coterie and it quickly became apparent that this was a pretext for various comments on the community here: “ I like the people here, because they are both here and somewhere else”. The text was littered with interesting images and a humorous touch while being a bizarrely meandering piece, almost unsettling, especially in combination with the mask.
In time, this figure arrived, he declared, at “the heart of the matter”, at which point his soliloquy turned into gibberish on the theme of The Jabberwocky, as he removed his clothing down to a small, white dhoti-like cloth. This sequence left the audience bemused, smiling or, in some cases, disturbed. And the ensuing sequence in which the, now nearly naked, figure drew people into the swirl of his jabbering, playing with their earlobes, dressing them in his clothes, dragging them to centre stage, was suffused with unpredictability.
Getting beyond the “gold and smoke” of the social scene meant, for this character, a laying bare, and surely Aman’s one man show must have laid him bare in more senses than one. However, the expressive potential of expressionism is always in question as well, and by the end, this reviewer felt that the requisite focus had not been met and the structure was unsatisfactory as a theatrical form. The philosophy of this type of performance relates to Butoh, to Grotowski, to the ideal of ‘play’ as of transcendent potential, and this ideal could have been more thoroughly applied in practice, undergirding the performance with stronger principles. However, it takes some courage and determination to put on a show of this kind and physical discipline too. Aman’s achievement was recognized by his peers and the good nature of his effort was enjoyed by the whole audience.
Benedict Clark
Head of Aesthetics
He appeared to be addressing the members of a bar coterie and it quickly became apparent that this was a pretext for various comments on the community here: “ I like the people here, because they are both here and somewhere else”. The text was littered with interesting images and a humorous touch while being a bizarrely meandering piece, almost unsettling, especially in combination with the mask.
In time, this figure arrived, he declared, at “the heart of the matter”, at which point his soliloquy turned into gibberish on the theme of The Jabberwocky, as he removed his clothing down to a small, white dhoti-like cloth. This sequence left the audience bemused, smiling or, in some cases, disturbed. And the ensuing sequence in which the, now nearly naked, figure drew people into the swirl of his jabbering, playing with their earlobes, dressing them in his clothes, dragging them to centre stage, was suffused with unpredictability.
Getting beyond the “gold and smoke” of the social scene meant, for this character, a laying bare, and surely Aman’s one man show must have laid him bare in more senses than one. However, the expressive potential of expressionism is always in question as well, and by the end, this reviewer felt that the requisite focus had not been met and the structure was unsatisfactory as a theatrical form. The philosophy of this type of performance relates to Butoh, to Grotowski, to the ideal of ‘play’ as of transcendent potential, and this ideal could have been more thoroughly applied in practice, undergirding the performance with stronger principles. However, it takes some courage and determination to put on a show of this kind and physical discipline too. Aman’s achievement was recognized by his peers and the good nature of his effort was enjoyed by the whole audience.
Benedict Clark
Head of Aesthetics
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