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Theater review
Untitled Mars: This Title May Change
P.S. 122. Conceived and directed by Jay Scheib. With ensemble cast. 1hr 30mins. No intermission.
SPACE ODDITY Sweeney, right, encounters an astronaut.Photograph: Justin BernhautDirector Jay Scheib doesn’t look like a geek. With his art-school specs, tousled hair and stylish attire, this laid-back orchestrator of multimedia installations surrounds himself with strikingly attractive actors and sexy technology. Yet scratch the surface and under the hipster auteur you might find a chubby nerd building a spaceship out of tin foil and cardboard in the garage. Now, Scheib and his dedicated actor-technicians have graduated to fancier materials with Untitled Mars: This Title May Change, a docu-video-performance piece that merges speculative science and avant-garde theatrics.
The elaborate, multizoned playing space created by Peter Ksander (the most ingenious set designer working downtown) is a re-creation of the Mars Desert Research Station in Utah—itself a simulation of the Martian landscape, where scientists hope we’ll establish a colony. The plot (related in elliptical fragments) is a crude pasteup of soap-opera seductions and sci-fi pulp, featuring a real-estate villain (Caleb Hammond), a heroic repair woman (Tanya Selvaratnam) and a scientist (April Sweeney) who may have found a link between schizophrenia and clairvoyance. Oh, and there’s a guy in green makeup with a giant lizard tail.
Using live video feeds and editing software to create the illusion of walking on the Martian surface, Scheib masterfully blends high-tech effects with his performers, who wrestle and simulate sex with gusto. (He himself appears, quizzing real scientists about space exploration via Skype linkup.) Even though the message—wherever we humans go, we’ll bring our problems—is old as Ray Bradbury, at least the vehicle is super space age. (See also “Martian to a different drummer,” page 161.)
—David Cote
Time Out New York / Issue 655 : Apr 16–22, 2008
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Hello everyone. Um, that self-aggrandizing comment 2 comments down is not me. Give yourself a pseudonym if you want, but please don't confuse matters by pretending to be a real person, even if it's a joke. Comments are welcome. And Mike: I would never expect a play to be a "serious scientific inquiry." It's a play. And I simply disagree about the sloppiness of the work, or if it's not as tight and spectacular as, say, the Rose Center planetarium, that's because it's a different sort of work.
But seriously, DC, this show was a sloppy fucking mess. Now maybe you didn't delete the comment and it was some other douchebag flagging it as inappropriate, but still. Do you guys check what is inappropriate? Just let me say this -- WARNING TO ALL: This show will disappoint you if you are expecting a serious scientific inquiry. The video work is sloppy as hell, and the sound design will give you a headache. The set design is cool for first five minutes. The "acting" is insulting.
That's my job! I am the only voice here and I liked this show, even if you think it's a piece of shit. Therefore, I will delete any smart ass comments about my reviews, because I AM COTE.
So just censor the comments that think you are full of shit.
"Scheib masterfully blends high-tech effects with his performers, who wrestle and simulate sex with gusto." Were you watching the same show as everyone else? Or were you sitting way in the back? If by masterfully, you mean clumsily and utterly without any technical savvy, then yes... I agree. What I saw was a mockery of science, and mockery of a legitimate scientist who was on the video chat. Not to mention, this piece steals video from popular movies, and music as well. Sloan funded this?
Who were the other actors? Why are they not mentioned? That great guy playing the husband for instance. If I understood correctly, he and a few others were Hungarians, what about them? Who are they?