REVIEW: Dream Machine

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Dream Machine

Well, now I really understand that scene inWhite Christmas where the cast is rehearsing the dance number "Choreography" with Danny Kaye andVera-Ellen, up at the chalet. As you know, all the women dancers are barefoot, dressed in dull grey dresses and instead of "chicks doing kicks" they are doing modern choreography while DK sings "through the air they'll be flying, like a duck that is dying, instead of dance it's choreography!"


Last night my husband and I went out to see Dream Machine at Theatre Passe Muraille. We hadn't seen a show there since The Drowsy Chaperone! It really is a nice, small space. It had received four "N"s in NOW magazine. Written by Blake Brooker and David Rhymer, and featuring Denise Clarke, Andy Curtis, Michael Green, Onalea Gilbertson and Brad Payne, it is billed a "The spirit of the Beats conjured in a hallucinogenic, genre-defying musical".

What is a Dream Machine I hear you ask? In the program they describe it as follows:
"The Dream Machine was a light/flicker-producing device invented by Biron Gysin and Ian Sommerville in 1960. It was meant to transport the user into a waking dream state. The inventors knew that it was capable of producing a drugless high and hoped that it would become a common household appliance. It never caught on."
Instead, we got the cappuccino machine.

The program goes on to say:
"The Beat Movement and its activities were many and varied: proponents advocated experimentation in all forms -- faith, food, sex, travel, art and work and through this, formed their own strange orthodoxy. Dream Machine started off as a musical investigation of the lives os some of the Beat luminaries (William Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg and Brion Gysin) then it became something else. Fittingly, perhaps, and under the sway of the furious experimentation and playfulness the Beats were famous for, we began to experiment ourselves. Could we create a musical without characters or plot? Could we musically induce in the audience the emotions of these courageous, idiosyncratic, and frustrated minds?"
Yes and no. The evening was nicely sustained on one "slice of Beat life" after another, as the songs explored the angst, the drugs, the sex etc. And the rear projection added to the whole effect. I'm not sure whether it was the piece , or the Beat movement itself, but the whole thing felt empty, sort of soulless. I didn't feel any connection to the actors, it was very egocentric, like one big navel gazing party. Maybe that was the point?

Maybe too much time has passed. The continuous drug fuelled angst and sex orgies on stage seemed less controversial and shocking and new, and more tired and annoying.

Although the lyrics were fun to follow, the music was a bit wallpapery and not very engaging or fun (or God forbid, catchy) as opposed to the memorable drug songs from the musical Hair.

Also, I couldn't help thinking of the Mike Myers movie So I Married An Axe Murderer as the actors recited some jumbled verse. And I half expected Vera-Ellen to descend from the rafters, ready to relieve us with some good ol' fashioned tapping.

However, it was fun live theater. The actors were great to watch in such a small space. Denise Clarke was especially captivating. The way her body moved was compelling -- strong,flowing, freakish at times. She was so deep into this piece that she no longer appeared to be acting.

I had a good time, but I wouldn't see it again and I probably wouldn't recommend it. But hey, I'm still thinking about it...
By Suzy Conn on March 14, 2005 5:29 AM | | Comments (0)


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