Total Rating: 
***
Opened: 
March 6, 2004
Ended: 
March 21, 2004
Country: 
USA
State: 
New York
City: 
New York
Company/Producers: 
La MaMa ETC.
Theater Type: 
off-off-Broadway
Theater: 
La MaMa ETC
Theater Address: 
74A East 4th Street
Phone: 
212-475-7710
Website: 
lamama.org
Running Time: 
75 min
Genre: 
avant-garde
Author: 
Gerald Thomas
Director: 
Gerald Thomas
Review: 

Gerald Thomas, who's worked internationally, has conceived, designed and directed Anchor Pectoris, was presented recently by La MaMa. Thomas' form is unique and exciting: two actors move downstage, one of them representing the playwright; the other a sort of conversational sounding board. There are several actors behind a scrim, and they represent -- with varying degrees of non-realism, but always referring to life -- the playwright's artistic and political concerns as he discusses them.

Anchor Pectoris is a clinical term for depression -- Thomas calls it "deep, deep, deep, deep, deep, deep, deep, deep depression -- and the play is a narcissistic self-scrutiny of Thomas' reaction to the political situation and its effect on his art. He's portrayed onstage in artistic black clothes that are too small for the actor, who behaves childishly and looks on the whole thing as ridiculous.

The play is funny, serious, and confusing. We're less concerned with Thomas' message than with his wholly original form. He does whatever he wants – with caricature, symbolism, mime, politicizing, et al. He borrows Jules Feiffer's black-skirted dancer and makes her The Perfect Muse; her death forms the play's core. The raconteur calls the play a "deconstructed mosaic," and it's all such a rich intellectual spectacle that simply sorting it out keeps us utterly absorbed.

The play ends on a note of hope with a recording of Billie Holiday. It's a reference to Sartre's novel "Nausea," which ends with a "negress" singing a jazz standard (which gives its existentially despairing hero a bit of a lift). The script also refers to Thomas' own work, and calls itself "an important piece." This all creates a self-absorbed theater that's simultaneously self-deprecating and pretentious. But also complex and fascinating.

Cast: 
Stephen Nesbitt, Fabiana Guglielmetti, Tom Walker, Chantal Bushelle, Stacey Raymond, Sean P. Doran, Josh Mann, Nikki Alikakos, George Bartenieff, Sonia Elaine Butler, Katie Holland, Kila Packett
Technical: 
Lighting: Brian Glover
Critic: 
Steve Capra
Date Reviewed: 
March 2004