“I am interested only in “nonsense”; only in that which makes no practical sense. I am interested in life only in its absurd manifestations.”
~~A quote from Daniil Kharms that may or may not have been in The Kharmful Charms of Daniil Kharms; I can’t remember.
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When I was drawn to what I was seeing in The Kharmful Charms of Daniil Kharms by ARTEL, I was disturbed but then later delighted with myself. The show, directed by Olya Petrakova, runs at Schkapf* as part of the Hollywood Fringe Festival this year.
The lavishing man with the lady on his forehead is Daniil Kharms himself. Photo from http://www.hollywoodfringe.org.
Violence, gore, fear, terror—all of these were present in heaps. But oh, the whimsy, the color, the style with which they were illustrated…it was like watching the doom of humankind painted before your eyes in lavish textures and whimsical cartoon.
It is at this point in a performance review that you will usually find some kind of plot summary, but alas (or perhaps hallelujah), Kharmful Charms outlays no such easily extractable storyline. The show is a collection of vignettes derived from Soviet-era Russian writer Daniil Kharms’ poetry. However, the abridged festival production is far from meandering. The tightness of the ARTEL (American Russian Theatre Ensemble Laboratory) ensemble’s work and the performers’ high energy in each vignette emanates contagious joy. Just try to look away while watching the show.
The full set is not a part of the Hollywood Fringe show, but the Fringe version has glorious costumes including these glorious fish heads. Photo from http://www.hollywoodfringe.org.
Kharmful Charms is a much-needed European voice on the American and Los Angeles stage. ARTEL’s ensemble work was ripe with the emotional rawness attributed to Polish theatrician Jerzy Grotowski’s work, i.e. “poor theatre”. How refreshing—something that is not commercial and not aiming for a big Hollywood break but is about artistic style, the communal experience of theatre-going, and the rawness of making-do in life.
I look forward to seeing more work from the promising ensemble at ARTEL. I also encourage folks to take a class at Schkapf, Kharmful Charms’ Fringe venue. Schkapf holds regular, unique theatre classes for people of all skill levels regularly. For the month of June, all classes are only $5! I just took a Traveling Stories class with Sandy Simona, which was about creating one’s own solo storytelling material. Just like in Kharmful Charms, I had an amazing time.
*If you go to Schkapf, be sure you try the White Tea Lavender Sorbet from their front-of-house cafe! It’s heavenly 🙂 .
~~Text by Sarah
The Local Looking Glass 