Director: Christine Young
(3.5 out of 5 stars)
March 17, 2009
by: Aileen Pagdanganan
You know the story of creation?
God creates man and woman. God names the man “Adam” and the woman, “Eve.” Adam and Eve live in the Garden of Eden where God forbids them to touch the Tree of Knowledge. Eve refuses to listen and takes an apple from a sneaky serpent hidden in the tree. Eve takes a bite of the apple. Then Adam follows. God gets mad. Then all hell breaks loose and the first two representatives of human kind are punished. Thanks to Eve's temptation.
But really, can we only blame her? She has to have a logical reason as to why she did it, right?Christine Young, the director of “Dust,” the recent USF Performing Arts Production, tackles that exact question. Incorporating different views and aspects of Eve's behavior, the stories portrayed in the play sometimes challenge and sometimes illustrate the assumed “reasons” as to why Eve took a bite.
Could it be because Eve wanted fame? Love? Or was she just a victim of desire? Fear? Pride? These are just a few examples of the reasons depicted in the production.
In the first half of the play, with only stools, a chalkboard and 12 actors, the mood was set as if you were in a classroom. With one of the actors leading the scene as the teacher and the other 11 as the students, the idea of “love” as Eve's motive was presented as if it were a Physical Education class. With a “coach” and his whistle, girls with apples in their hands, and boys with bananas in their lap, the portrayal of sex education was mocked. That much was clear. The coach kept lecturing his class of young girls to use “S.N.A.K.E.” whenever a man tried to take their apple. He told them to “Say 'no' and kick everywhere!” To illustrate his lecture, he brought in one of the boys and asked “Eve” to defend herself. When the boy tried to take her apple, she screamed and kicked him in the shin. Then when she saw that the boy was actually hurt, Eve consoled him. Then the scene immediately ended and the actors were onto another scene, another explanation.
At this point, I was thinking: “What just happened?” I mean I could understand what went on, but I didn't know how that scene justified the idea that love caused Eve to share the apple with Adam. It ended too soon, and the setting didn't make sense to me. I felt it was more humorous than explanatory, at least when it came to Adam and Eve.
The way the actors chose to illustrate subsequent reasons such as “pride” and “desire” through elementary school skits were too immature and ineffective. The production could've reached out to a college audience more if the ideas in the first half were more than superifical jokes.The classroom setting worked at first but it got old real fast. This is a college show. It needed to be smarter, especially on a topic like “Eve,” which is supposed to explain how disease sin and death came into the world.
Which is weird, because in the second half I had a different reaction. This time I had no idea what was going on. The material in the scenes being thrown at me weren't so straightforward rather complex, which made the production more interesting.
As the actors tore up the stage and created havoc by pulling off the lights and the rugs on the floor, the transition into the second half had me on the edge of my seat. When the lights turned off and actors with lighters began to pop out of nowhere around the crowd, my heart started beating. I admit I got excited and a bit scared at the same time. Then when the actors jumped on stage and created a strobe light show with just cigarette lighters, I felt a bit of adrenaline rush through me. Even though I still didn't know what was going on, I thought this was probably the best scene in the whole show. It was creative, innovative, and definitely crowd pleasing, whatever it meant.
But after the light show ended, I found myself even more in the dark. Not because the lights turned off but because of the deep interpretations that began to mesh together. Watching scenes with just constant actions, I felt myself stuck in confusion. I kept turning to my friend next to me hoping he understood what was going on but when I looked over, he looked just as confused as I did. This is the part of the play I wish they could've elaborated more on to give us at least a hint. The scenes were entertaining, but they were mind boggling.
This is when I felt the production strayed away from the creation story and what was told in the Book of Genesis. Instead of being intrigued by their inspiration of the story, I was more intrigued by the way the actors utilized the stage. Chalk and apples were being thrown everywhere, but I didn't know why. I'm assuming imagery, metaphors, and personification were intended through this part of the play, but I couldn't understand them. In turn, I began to become more intrigued by the stage set up instead of the stories. Unlike the first half, I spent the whole time trying to decipher what the actors were trying to tell me and trying to come up with a conclusion of my own. I spent more time thinking than watching.
So overall I'd have to say I enjoyed the play. It was my first time watching a USF Performing Arts Production, and I felt the Ensemble did very well. I loved the unique set up of the stage, the enthusiasm, and the energy the actors were giving but I'm not sure if I throughly enjoyed their explanation of Eve; simply because I didn't begin to set a coherent sense of what that explanation was. It was a strong attempt to create a unique show accompanied with great acting, but I still wasn't jumping out of my seat. I instead spent my time scratching my head in wonder.
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