BWW Reviews: Kennedy Center's WHAT I HEARD ABOUT THE WORLD Attempts to Provoke Thought

Can three men sitting onstage change the world, or at least how we perceive it? By performing a series of cultural vignettes this is the goal of the storytelling trio of Jorge Andrade, Alex Kelly and Chris Thorpe in What I Heard About the World. It's an admirable cause that falls short due to a combination of bad storytelling techniques that result in the show having the adverse effect of its stated goal.

Storytellers Andrade, Kelly and Thorpe present the evening as an opportunity to become further acquainted with the world - one they say is getting larger every day and which we'll never be able to see in its entirety. To accomplish this, they've selected roughly a dozen stories with the purpose of introducing us to the experiences and problems of different cultures, regions and nations.

The trio deserves credit for collecting and performing tales from around the world and their ability to present each without bias. Not an easy task when speaking about controversial topics such as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict or global warming. Interspersed between the stories is Thorpe, on guitar, singing about what we've just seen in a medley reminiscent of the events in Billy Joel's We Didn't Start the Fire.

Many of the stories are as distressing as they are thought-provoking. In an attempt to be profound and inject humor into the show, they have chosen to tell each story with attitudes of flippancy and cynicism. As a result, the audience finds itself becoming disengaged and pulling away from Andrade, Kelly and Thorpe rather than leaning in to learn more. What I Heard About the World would be better served to feature an emotional balance rather than glibly dwelling on cultural trials and tribulations.

With each story, the trio uses a myriad of props scattered across the stage to help bring events to life. The props are simple; however they dutifully keep the stories focused. The most profound use of these occurs toward the end when plastic sheeting covers the stage and at one end is Andrade with a water gun filled with red food dye and Thorpe at the other dressed in a white hazmat suit reenacting the Santa Cruz massacre in East Timor. Sadly though, by this point in the show we've been so inundated with the troublesome state of the world that the attempt to provoke thought has become null.

What I Heard About the World is being presented as part of the Kennedy Center's Iberian Suite: Global Art's Remix. It's a festival celebrating the combined influence of Portuguese and Spanish speaking people and this production is the collaboration between Portuguese theater company Mala Voadora and British based Third Angel.

Andrade, Kelly and Thorpe's premise is that despite the increased connectivity of the world there remains much of the world we won't see. And as powerful as these stories are, taken in one lump sum and presented in a flippant manner, What I Heard About the World doesn't inspire further curiosity about our world.

Runtime was 70 minutes with no intermission.

Photo: Jorge Andrade, Alex Kelly and Chris Thorpe in What I Heard About the World. Credit: The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

What I Heard About the World played its final performance at the Kennedy Center on March 14th. For more information on the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts' Iberian Suite please click here.

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