Black Rider in SF

Okay, I need help.

Yesterday, after a very nice wood-oven pizza at the Grand Cafe with a crew of friends, we went to a preview of the "Black Rider" at ACT's Curran Theater.

Three hours later we emerged in a daze -- not a good daze. I feel like I missed out on being "In the Know" on this one. However, I read someplace that Robert Wilson said he hoped people would come to the show without any preconceptions, totally open-minded. Well there I was with an open mind and the whole shebang sort of whistled through my head without making any kind of a good impact.

Now I'm not the brightest bulb in the whole world, but probably smarter than the average bear, and I have to say I just didn't get what we were supposed to "get" out of this. I understand it was German Expressionist, that it's about making deals with the Devil, that it's avant-garde and a vision of the future of theater without boundaries.

Honestly though, as I told a friend of mine, it looked like the kind of thing we all saw in college. An over-earnest, out-there, absurdist kind of production -- you know the sort, with a naked woman walking across the upstage area pushing a purple vacuum cleaner. But what good does it do you all when the characters and the story have nothing in common with real humans? When it doesn't do anything to illuminate life on Earth?

I do admit, the scene in the second act at the crossroads was visually striking. In fact I would have done away with the opening and closing business of the play (the characters emerge and later retreat into a black coffin-like box) and started with that wordless image. Characters gliding past each other along the legs of a giant illuminated "X," while the protagonist dances at the crux, lost and confused. Now that's the kind of imagery I came to see.

I had a lot more fun at the Ukrainian day at the Botanical Gardens with the Golden Gate Park Band. A Canadian folk dance troupe provided extra entertainment along with two lovely mezzos and a crowd of Ukrainians who sang along to every folk song they played.

Well, I'm going back to "Black Rider" on a press night, so we'll see if they can tighten anything up over the next couple of days. A new report on that Thursday.

I'm also going to check out Cal Shakes' "Importance of Being Earnest" this week, as well as Playhouse West's "Force of Nature."