Open Wardrobes

Last night Kelly and I went to Pangea World Theater's Conference of the Birds, the cast of which include my good friend and fellow actor/playwright Kevin Whitby. The play is based on a 12th century Persian poem of the same name which is in essence a metaphor for the path to enlightenment. I had the good fortune to work with the director Dipankar Mukherjee many years ago when he directed a show at Bethel and I am a big fan of his work, and this play was no exception. It was a highly physical play, as for most of the time the ensemble portrayed various kinds of birds, and the movement and dance that was incorporated into the piece was outstanding. In the post-show discussion the actors talked about how they spent entire rehearsals just practicing flocking together. That sort of commitment to the physical is emblematic of Dipankar's work and all that work on the physicality clearly paid off. The ensemble of actors worked seamlessly together on stage, and afterward Kevin told us that much of the movement is improvised with the actors reacting to each other essentially creating a different performance every night. The arc of the play consists of the birds of the world undertaking an arduous quest to find the Simorgh (a metaphor for God or the Holy). Within this are many different stories and parables and I loved the way all of the different stories were layered together. Again, the movement was perfectly integrated into the script, and the final layer which added to this even more was the live music (with occasional wordless vocals) done on traditional Middle East instruments. It was a visual and auditory feast that made you feel you joined these birds on their quest (and you really did believe they were birds).


From the acting perspective the ensemble worked together as a cohesive whole without a weak link in the bunch (and when you have spent hours flocking together that is no surprise!). Each had their moments as they played a character in the stories-within-a-story (kudos Kevin!). For me the standout acting moment was Masanari Kawahara's bit as the Hermit and that character's hilarious befuddlement as he tried to explain to the birds why he had done the things he had done (and always with this genuine air of surprise would he answer, "I don't know!").


Unfortunately the show closes today. I wish it ran longer so I could encourage everyone reading this to get out and see it. But even though it's too late for this one, keep Pangea on your radar for future shows and I doubt you'll be disappointed!