Wednesday, October 6, 2010

The Deer House

By:
Jan Lauwers & Needcompany

At BAM
Brooklyn Academy of Music
Harvey Theatre
October 5, 7-9 2010

Last night I went to see "The Deer House" at BAM and the performance ends with a song, that goes something like this:

"Hey, no, don´t go away, no need to say
oh we are small people
we are smart
we love each other
we have a big heart"

A bit of an optimistic message? after 2 hours of betrayal, destruction, murder and rape.

The central story is about a girl missing her brother, a war photographer. She decides to go and look for him, finds his diary that says he has killed a woman. To find out if this story is true, and how come he could be capable of doing this, she follows where his diary says he would go, to the "Deer House".
The sad part here is that this performance actually originated in a true story. The girl Tijen Lawton, playing this part actually did loose her brother in Kosovo in 2001. 

There are some beautifully inspired dance sequences and the staging is exciting and inspiring. 
We all agreed the women have gorgeous bodies which they gladly walked around naked to show. Supposedly, a proof of how pornographic the war pictures can tend to be. 

Jan Lauwers says : ‘Art is about man and human nature. And all good art is a self-portrait of the observer. “One sees what one has learned.” ....
"Art always get caught between the pages of history: it is futile and has no influence on any events at all, which is where the mysterious necessity for it lies". 

I found among others these sentences from the play intriguing:

" Faking a photo of yourself is the craziest you can do. When you are a war Photographer"

" One doesn´t know what one is thinking before one does"

" A war does not belong to anyone"

I think the last sentence is what I am lingering on. Why do we end up in wars? Why do people sign up for death and destruction? Why rape? why mass murders? What makes people feel they are entitled to this much hate? What is at stake if the war does not even belong to you?









15 comments:

  1. I dont have a clue why...But I am so interested in this...I am going to check it out:)....Thanks darling for this post:)
    Kisses

    ps: I am hosting a really sweet GIVEAWAY, so please join in:) ...I bet you will love it!!!

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  2. Oh wow, such an amazing post of the performance - I want to go off and check it out now! One of the things I miss most about moving away from NYC is BAM - thanks so much for sharing this, love how you wrote it.

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  3. So interesting! I had not idea a group like this existed but it is definitely intriguing. I would love to see more of them- very inspirational!

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  4. i love how you've described the performance...i could actually see it right in front of my eyes ! very poignant!

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  5. Oh, I would totally go. Of COURSE I would go, the title, the antlers! LOL! Thank you for the review, looks quite fascinating, BAM always has fabulous stuff!

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  6. wow, that looks like it was pretty awesome to see - And war...one of the most confusing things in the world to me!

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  7. I love reading about your artsy, event filled life! Looks like such a wonderful performance, even if based on a traumatic true story (aren't most wonderful things like this?)

    On a side note, I totally understand finding your dream house and then leaving it! Gotta live in the now, and our dream places are constantly changing. Right now, I just wanna go "home." And as soon as I'm there, I'll probably have another realization about what home really means to me and be just as ready to leave! Oh, us humans!

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  8. Wow! Those pictures are so amazing!! :)SarahD

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  9. this is quite powerful i have to say... i agree with you that wars just make people angrier and the side effects last for a long time

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  10. That sounds interesting yet disturbing. I guess our senses need to be shaken up like that every now and again!

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  11. Sounds like a captivating performance!

    xoxox,
    CC

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  12. Looks like a powerful performance...such talent!

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  13. Hi sweetie
    You won my Giveaway ($50 gift cert. for Raine Studios)...Can you please send me your email address so I can send you all the details? So happy for you...Congrats!
    Hugs and kisses,sweetie
    Happy Monday

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  14. wow! seems amazing! would love to see it!
    thank you for passing by and leaving your sweet comment!there's give-away on my blog...maybe you would like to join?

    xoxo from rome
    K.
    http://kcomekarolina.blogspot.com/

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