Realised I haven’t done my comparative thingee so much in this festival like I did for the Fringe Fest. And on what better piece to do it than with the highlight of this year’s Arts Fest.
There weren’t any sunglasses in Eonnagata but there are other “Ey?” moments like…
- Sylvie Guillem, Robert Lepage and Russell Maliphant become the Chevalier d’Eon, like how Pichet Klunchun becomes Nijinsky in Nijinsky Siam.
- Robert Lepage trying to dance was just an awkward a sight as Pichet and his dancers attempting ballet.
- Like Football! Football!, people walked out. Not as many though.
- There was (canned) laughter at inappropriate moments. At some shows I had watched, you could hear audiences laughing at dramatic moments.
- The Chevalier in make-up in the latter part = Malvolio in make-up in the latter part of I, Malvolio. Both in the “sad clown” mode.
- It ends in a morgue. Peter Brook’s 11 and 12 ends in the cemetery.
- It’s the East-meets-West all over again like Nijinsky Siam and 11 and 12.
- The water sleeves! Football! Football! (first night).
- The upper level seats apparently had the best vantage point to see the excellent light design — like Wind Shadow. Apparently.
- Like O Sounds, Eonnagata needed a dramaturg (yeah, yeah, I blaspheme…). But more on that later.
Any other déjà vu moments I missed?
PS, Nothing to do with the festival per se. But how come these foreign powerhouse acts can do these gender-bending, role-switching productions and W!ld Rice’s The Importance of Being Earnest gets a lot of flak? Robert Lepage said it was more gender than sexuality. Ditto Earnest. Heck, that wasn’t even the point in Earnest. Hmmm…
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