Image via Complex Original
In 2011 avant-garde king Robert Wilson, an experimental playwright famous for Einstein on the Beach and The Black Rider, debuted a play called The Life and Death of Marina Abramovic at the Manchester International Festival. The performance was met with critical acclaim across Europe, and now it is coming to New York's Park Avenue Armory. Yet more exciting than the anticipation that the play is US-bound is the fact that Abramovic will be playing herself, as opposed to an actress (as was the case in the other stagings). Abramovic will appear onstage alongside a star-studded cast, including Antony Hagerty and Willem Dafoe. As the "quasi-opera" opens this month, here are 10 Things to Expect From The Life and Death of Marina Abramovic at the Park Avenue Armory.
The Life and Death of Marina Abramovic opens Dec. 13, 2013 and runs until Dec. 21, 2013.
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The show will be a composite of performance art and opera, like a strange musical.
Clips from the dress rehearsal of the performance give us a glimpse into the play's strange, yet intriguing manner of representing Abramovic's life. The play has been billed as a "quasi-opera," but it may be more of a twisted musical. The music was written and will be performed by Antony Hegarty, an experimental artist in his own right, so every aspect of the performance will be on the stranger side.
Whether or not you enjoy the story, the performance will be, without a doubt, visually pleasing.
Although the reviews of the performance are hit or miss, we can safely say that the visual aspect of Robert Wilson's plays are generally loved. This comes as no surprise from a man who has plenty of experience putting on theatrical performances that are visual treats.
The Economist and The New York Times have taken note of Wilson's impressive use of lighting, making the performance as visually enticing as it is dramatic. Considering that this play is an amalgamation of many artistic mediums, it makes sense that the visuals make just as much of an impact as the performative and musical aspects of the play.
Wilson has restaged the piece to fit the Armory's 55,000-square-foot hall.
As if the performance wasn't already larger than life in terms of lighting and theatricality, the stage will be adapted to fit the Armory's gigantic Drill Hall. Expect to be stunned and overwhelmed by the size of every element of the play. Although this might hinder the intimacy of the performance, you surely will be able to feel the grandeur of Abramovic's painful past.
Marina Abramovic will be playing herself as Willem Dafoe narrates her life.
Although Abramovic once stated that theater is too fake in comparison to performance art, she decided that performing in this play is the best way to reflect her life without being overly personal. Although she is the queen of getting personal (she masturbated in front of a crowd at the Guggenheim in 2005), she needed to separate herself from the pain of her past. In an effort to create that separation, Wilson has the extremely talented Willem Dafoe play the part of the terrifying narrator.
Expect a lot of momma drama.
Much of Abramovic's work is influcenced by her relationship of her mother, and since the play is based heavily upon the artist's childhood, familial themes dominate the performance. Abramovic plays the part of her mother in the play and represents her as a militant and not-so-sympathetic matriarch. The press release describes her mother as "imposing." Although she lived at home until she was 29, the queen of performance art clearly did not have the strongest relationship with her family. This pain is very clear in the performance.
Abramovic won't do much moving or acting.
From what we can tell from reviews and YouTube clips, Abramovic doesn't necessarily try out her acting skills. According to Animal, however, she appears as her stoic and silent self, a practice she has mastered over the years. Although Abramovic doesn't emote as much as you'd expect from a theatrical show, Willem Dafoe and Antony Hegardy's performances make up for her minimal appearance onstage. Perhaps her presence in the performance is that of a voyeur of her own life, not a participant in it.
The play barely alludes to any of Abramovic's specific works.
According to a review in The Telegraph, Wilson's performance is not specific to Abramovic's career. Despite the play being about the performance artist, Wilson focuses more on her tragic and traumatic childhood than on her work as an artist. Instead, the play is about the influence of her past on how she became the woman she is today.
You won't know whether to laugh or cry.
The performance is supposed to describe Abramovic's painful and tormented past, specifically when she was a child, but Wilson decided to insert some slapstick humor in an effort to, as he tells CBC News, "reach out to more people." Adding humor to an otherwise tragic story makes the performance seem a little more realistic, although this might leave the audience emotionally conflicted.
Antony Hegarty, frontman of Antony and the Johnsons, will give the performance of a lifetime.
Expect to see Hegarty in a dark dress as Abramovic's alternate mother figure as he sings music written by him, William Basinski, and Svetlana Spajic. The music touches upon themes of dreams, creativity and empathy. Although Richard Dorment from The Telegraph did not approve of the show as a whole (he writes that he could not wait for it to end), he gives raving reviews of Hegarty's performance, describing his singing as "achingly vulnerable." Dorment could not help but be "transfixed, straining to grasp the nuance of every word."
Abramovic's celebrity friends will probably make an appearance.
Considering that many of Abramovic's famous artistic colleagues claim New York City as their home, we would not be surprised to find the likes of Jay-Z (who she danced with during the rapper's "Picasso Baby" performance piece) and her recent collaborator Lady Gaga at the Armory to show some support. Now that she's buddies with Kim Kardashian, we expect some other members of the Manhattan elite to pay tribute to Abramovic and Wilson.