Terror forecasted

>> The Other Theatre's Carlos in Therapy is eerily prophetic

by AMY BARRATT

In the days leading up to last week's terrorist attacks, I wasn't thinking about things like plane hijackings and suicide bombers. Neither was the average North American, I'll wager. Despite stepped-up violence in Israel and the occupied territories, news outlets in the States were more focused on the faltering economy. In Canada, the buzz was all about the new coalition between the Conservative Party and the Alliance "rebels." But the artists of The Other Theatre, in intense rehearsal for their latest collective creation, were, among other things, pondering what makes an individual turn to terrorism.

"I think sometimes artists can be prophetic," a colleague whispered just as the lights went down at the start of Carlos in Therapy, and the ensuing performance proved that statement true. Not that this bilingual, multi-media performance tells a story of terrorism--the Other Theatre's work is more associative than literal--but there's enough in there to send a shiver up your spine in the wake of the World Trade Center attack.

The events that rocked the world inevitably colour what we see on stage. At last Thursday's opening night, company artistic director Stacey Christodoulou stepped out to address the audience before the performance. She said that with this show the company had meant to point out some of the dangers in contemporary society, never dreaming that their fears would be realized on such a grand scale. She warned that the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington had "put a different perspective on certain scenes in our show," and went on to "utterly condemn" the attacks.

The Other Theatre's shows are built on improvisation. In this case, the improvs used lying as a starting point, from the institutionalized lying of propaganda (brace yourselves for a sickening bombardment of this in the coming weeks and months as the Americans lead us into war) to the fictionalized "reality" of TV shows like Survivor.

There is no Carlos in Carlos in Therapy. The name is meant to evoke both the new-age philosophy of Carlos Castaneda and the infamous 1970s terrorist Carlos the Jackal. The play is very much about the media and how everybody wants to get on TV. Terrorists use media attention to publicize their causes; but individuals as well, have become desperate to see their images reflected back by the screen, as if this were the only way to validate their lives. The temptation is to exaggerate our personal horrors to make them media worthy. The omnipresence of cameras turns us all into actors.

The premise of Carlos in Therapy is that we are all attending a conference on Neurological Pathologies. The production has a pared down, almost antiseptic look to it, evocative of many public spaces, from news briefing rooms, to hospitals, to airports. The actors work with a small number of props--styrofoam coffee cups, bottles of spring water, transparent slides--each one of which is used to represent many other things. The cast (Philippe Ducros, Alex Ivanovici, Marina Lapina, Caroline Lavoie and Elizabeth Robertson) is outstanding.

Many artistic events have been cancelled in the wake of the American attack. It is fitting that this show will go on. Though disturbing, it gives us a chance to think about the events in a different way, to escape the sameness and the shallow "how could this happen?" viewpoint of the TV coverage. Just don't call it "therapeutic." :

Carlos in Therapy, to Sept. 29 at Théâtre Prospero. All performances are pay-what-you-can, 526-6582