Review: WET's REVOLT. SHE SAID. REVOLT AGAIN. Hits Hard but Not Always Coherently

I've never been a fan of performance art as it tends to lose its message amidst the blur of being odd. I mean I'll never forget the piece I saw where a woman gave birth to herself only to be followed by a group of men beating her with pillows. Having said that, Washington Ensemble Theatre's current production of Alice Birch's play "Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again." is not completely performance art but there were a few moments where the outrageousness of the performance got in the way of the message. But we'll get to that in a minute.

As the title suggest we are in the midst of a revolution, not of countries or religions but of gender class. Birch's play attempts to dissect that struggle by taking the existing societal norms and turning them on their head and to extremes. Not just in the situations such as the correct language to use with your sexual partner or the appropriateness of exploring your body in aisle seven of a supermarket on top of the watermelons but in the way each individual production is constructed. The script has no characters, no stage directions, and no settings leaving the construction and tone of the play largely up to the actors and director. In this particular production the actors are made up of Alyssa Bostwick, Anna Kasabyan, Arjun Pande, Ayo Tushinde, Joe Cummings, and Samie Spring Detzer all helmed by director Bobbin Ramsey and they examine everything from body image, to marriage to rape but all with a slightly off kilter, tongue in cheek bend to it.

The messages, for the most part, are quite powerful and resonate with issues of today. For example, is it a power play for the man to want to penetrate the woman and how should the man feel if she wants to penetrate him? And for the most part the cast does a fine job getting those issues and messages across. Bostwick is delightfully dismissive and amused by Pande as her boss who is confused as to why she wants more time off ("Are you pregnant?") only to turn around in another scene as a closed off mother who abandoned her daughter. Tushinde is quite powerful in her reaction to two supermarket employees horrified by her sexual actions in the middle of the store, not for what she did but because her body was "imperfect", and her cat and mouse sexuAl Verbiage game with Cummings was hilarious. Kasabyan and Detzer turn in a fascinating look at what the word "marriage" means to different people and Detzer's final monologue on where we stand with the "idea" of change was stirring.

Unfortunately as the play wore on and the scenes got more "out there" and frenetic the message started to get lost. Not from intent but from conveyance did things begin to get muddied until finally it all culminated in a chaotic scene with overlapping themes and stories where the dialog got obscured by the highly emotional tone and thumping music underscoring it all. I really only got about every fifth word as they screamed over the loud music and threw themselves about. And while it all seemed very important and message driven to the cast, without that clarity much of it boiled down to just noise.

Ultimately it's a well meaning play with an obviously important message but needed to make that message clearer lest it fall into the realm of performance art. And so with my three letter rating system I give Washington Ensemble Theatre's production of "Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again." a muddled MEH+. I like the message and I like the concept but the execution needs work.

"Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again." from Washington Ensemble Theatre performs at 12th Avenue Arts through October 10th. For tickets or information visit them online at www.washingtonensemble.org.

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