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Also this issue: The Bone Collector Love Songs Low Spirits Underneath the Sari Willkommen |
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May 30-June 5, 2002
artpicks
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For her current show, Happiness, Laurie Anderson tells stories. Which is something she's done for years now, only this time the stories -- some of which are based on recent experiences, where she purposefully put herself in strange situations in order to challenge her own expectations -- are more personal than in the past. Also, she believes they're more "journalistic in that I'm trying to describe things as they are, not as I wish they would be or thought they should be."
But of course, Anderson, ever the wry, sly performance artist, doesn't go for a straight arrow tale. "One of the things I'm really interested in is jump-cuts," she comments. "Some of the stories have a kind of story structure, but others really don't; which makes it kind of challenging for the audience."
Anderson accompanies her stories with sounds from keyboards, violin and digital processing. She doesn't play music so much as pulses and beats. "If it starts being too dynamic, then it's like a bunch of songs... but I'd like it to be heard as a dream, so you sink into the rhythm of it," she explains. "This is more of a written thing than I've ever done. It's written to be spoken, and it's intricate."
A solo stint with spare set-up represents a fresh twist for someone known for large-scale high-tech multimedia spectacles. Anderson is aiming for intimacy. She wants to see and feel how her audience reacts, and then she can react accordingly. "I can hear bafflement. I really can," she says. "And if there's no response, I go ŒOh, I'm going to slow down, this is maybe too much for this evening.' And other times I go, ŒOh, they're cool with that. So I'm going to try this weird thing.'"
Happiness, Fri., May 31 and Sat., June 1, 8 p.m., $40-$45, Prince Music Theater, 1412 Chestnut St., 215-569-9700, www.princemusictheater.org.
