1/29/06 Auk Theatre: Irene Moon and the Begonia Socity: "Scientifically Speaking"

Best thing at the Asheville Fringe! (that I saw, anyway).

This performance piece got me more excited that anything since Tiny Ninjas (not that long ago, I'll admit). Really terrific. She combined extraordinary video (lots of animated stills--really a kind of very, very bizarre powerpoint presentation. I ended up thinking a little of Laurie Anderson and a lot of Richard Foreman, but the piece was in no way derivative. Very orginal. Here's a link to her website:

Her performance was preceded by a video by Shana Moulton which was wonderfully campy and intriguing. Seriously goofy work done very well. Don't know if Irene Moon is connected to Shana Moulton or was just showing the video through her Powerbook.

The Powerbook figured heavily in Irene's performance: it was on the tiny stage with her and she ran everything herself (Powerpoint style but without a remote) so that her moves to and away from the computer (and connected equipment) were part of it. The visuals were amazing, as were the aurel elements: computer-generated (or recorded) stuff combined with vocal effects through the microphone.

The character of Irene Moon was amazing. She kept her head kind of tilted and her eyes cast upward as she moved from side to side of the little stage--usually the video was projected on her to great effect. Here eye makeup was particularly striking--seemed like eyeline which swooped up at the outside so she looked demented but with great style. Her dress was 50s sort of fur-trimmed (?) faux-elegant (I'm not good remembering costume details).

The first part of the piece was a hilarious combination of information and weird observations in front of truly weird, wonderfully designed visuals. Include a clip of Carl Sagan mimicking the sound of a kind of cricket (I think) which she revealed was completely wrong. Hard to pin down just what I found so wonderful about it, which is, I think, part of the attraction. Anyway, she seemed to be coming to the end (was there a technical glitch?) and was interrupted by a voice paging her to the hotel lobby where her "pet" had arrived. She was apologizing when another performer entered (Sara O'Keefe?) wearing a full-length white formal dress and carrying a clarinet. She whispered to Irene, who made her final apologies, leaving Sara on the stage. Strange, droning music began, some incredible sort of op-art visuals appeared, and Sara played the clarinet. Somehow, I was mesmerized although it was very static (shimmering visuals but hynotically repetative) and lasted quite a while. The music came to an end, she left the stage, and "E.O. Wilson" appeared (Irene in pants with the top part of her body covered by a very large cardboard head and torso (tee-shirt which said "I'm super smart") and proceeded to talk about Florida and sing a "new wave" song about E. O. Wilson. (I think it was called, "E.O. why don't you get sociable" or something like that.) This character ended the performance, staying on stage until well after the enthusiastic applause had died out.

A great show. Inspiring.