Director: Craig Quintero
What does it mean to take something down and put it back up? What does it mean to construct and deconstruct?
The acclaimed Taiwanese theatre company, Riverbed Theatre, embodies this dichotomy with the human form in its piece entitled taking it down and putting it up. Presented as part of the Taiwan Festival at the Coronet Theatre, the first-ever celebration of Taiwanese culture in London, this performance is an intriguing meditation on the abilities of the human body and its intersectionality with the various forms of live art.
Originally formed in 1998 in Taipei, Riverbed Theatre is renowned for its blending of theatre and live image, the style of which is on full display within this piece. The dexterous performers, Hsiao-Tzu Tien, Chia-Chy Chang, Yu-Hsin Yu and Chih-Kai Huang, manipulate their bodies in visceral ways, accentuated by the slight coating of dust that shimmies off them when they move. Moving across a barren stage, they become living sculptures in a living gallery space.
American artist Carl Johnson lends his storytelling prowess to the performance, at one time coming on stage to paint a full abstract image on a canvas while narrating a story about his father and his life. The blending of disciplines is on full display here, because while Johnson slaps black paint across the canvas the other performers are tenuously moving their bodies in entwined with long, wooden poles.
Yujun Wang’s evocative score melds throughout these moments, weaving and binding the on-stage images created by the performers and the set design. Co-designed by Chang-Chih Chen, along with Carl Johnson, these scenic elements bring a lot to this abstract world. Like the bodies on display, every facet brought onto the stage is constructed and deconstructed in the most intuitive of ways, tearing down where art ends and the human body begins.
Riverbed Theatre’s taking it down and putting it up is a sure highlight of the Taiwan Festival: here is to hoping we can see more from them in London in the future.
Runs until 27 April 2024
