16
by Bambam
So much to get through this month that sometimes you just have to ask yourself – don’t we all have more important stuff to do than swan about looking at art and theatre all day? And then you answer yourself – well, certainly not all of us. Working in big buildings may be important, but will that always be the case? We need to always be mindful that in order to build those big buildings first we needed art. It is consciousness of art that provided the spark for civilisation itself. Still today, art helps to build cultures and communities from the ground up. Take a problem and introduce it to art. Now the problem has a context and meaning that can be understood by those other than you alone. From there we can at least look at it in one light, or another, and perhaps from there we can get on the road to a solution. Hey, maybe our minds will be opened, and where’s the harm in that? We can take cabaret artist Tommy Bradson (pictured) as a prime example to this point. There he is in 2010 as a down-and-out-in-Paris-and-London hermaphrodite whore/boxer in When the Sex is Gone. In 2011 we discover he has turned to outright piracy in Pirate Rhapsody, Mermaid Requiem at the Seymour Centre. Who would have thought? This is billed as: “poetic theatre that addresses the harsh undertones of love, betrayal, lust and passion. Combining song and spoken word, Bradson is accompanied by cello and piano. The trio takes the audience on a tumultuous journey that goes anywhere and everywhere. “ Good luck with that. Bradson certainly has an intense narrative style and rhythmic motion that is very watchable. >