http://www.theatrereviews.com/fringe1999/f99-tightrope.htm
The above link is where the review reproduced below can be found. We performed the first two acts on Radio Centraal (Antwerp) in December, 1998. This was followed by three shows at the Tschaplin, Deurne and one at Cartoons, Antwerp, plus (of course) the six shows in New York for the New York Fringe festival (1999).
More on Tightrope
"Tightrope"
by Ken Post
At New York Performance Works
Reviewed by David Roberts for Theatre Reviews Limited
Those who are "cast out" walk a tightrope, a fine line between enjoying the benefits of the culture/society from which they have been evicted (or "feel" they have been evicted from) and decrying the many flaws inherent in that same culture/society. Once cast out, the other tightrope they walk is the one of survival, continued freedom of expression, as well as personal and artistic well-being.
Self described "ex-patriot" Ken Post has assembled a ragtag cast of outcasts from around the world who play themselves and an interesting assemblage of "outcasts" who have gained considerable notoriety for their (often unrecognized or underground) successes in the arts. These latter outcasts are the heroes of those "traveling street performers" who have reunited in New York City to "talk, sing, dance, get arrested, spend the night in jail [and] dream about their heroes in a series of trial sequences that are inspired to invent the future." So reads the program for Ken Post's "Tightrope" which was featured at New York Performance Works as part of the 1999 New York International Fringe Festival.
After being introduced to the current group of society's riffraff, the audience watches the series of trials of their heroes: painter Vincent Van Gogh (Jay Byrd); beat poet Jack Kerouac (Brian Pearce); poet Arthur Rimbaud (Bart Goeteyn); writer Anais Nin (Inge De Grauwe); abstract painter Georgia O'Keefe (Kim Ten Zythoff); saxophonist Charlie Parker (Lenny North); playwright Henry Miller (Wesley De Jonghe); dancer Isadora Duncan (Kim Ten Zythoff); sculptor Camille Claudel (Erin Esposito); jazz stylist Bessie Smith (Bonnie Burns); painter Pablo Picasso (Ken Post); and painting master Salvador Dali (Roy Van Der Haagen).
These vignettes (with original songs by Ken Post and Bonnie Burns) succeed to a varying degree on many levels. The music is faithful to the style of each "celebrated" artist and performed well by the show's musicians (and occasionally by Ken Post on guitar). In fact the music and its instrumental performance is the strength of "Tightrope." Erin Esposito as Camille Claudel sings, "How did my gifts get so twisted?" Jesse Helms interrogates Georgia O'Keefe (nice touch!). Rimbaud (Bart Goeteyn) bemoans his "poor young heart shot to pieces." Charlie Parker (Lenny North) questions America "the nation of laws." And Bessie Smith's (Bonnie Burns) "A Woman Can Be Like Coffee" is wonderfully over the top.
The performances of the actors vary from the highly commendable to the barely acceptable. The staging is haphazard at best and the actors seem to forget there is a microphone apparently intended for their use. The wearing of headset microphones which were never turned on will remain one of life's minor mysteries.
But most of this can be easily forgiven once the show's finale settles on the ears and conscience of the audience. Ken Post and his traveling band of self proclaimed outcasts want more than anything to find a way to save America from itself and its odd brand of artistic oppression. "The Future," the final section of "Tightrope," is pure passion and pure fun. "Pick That Lock" is a wonderful song urging us all to "steal the future." "Pelican Nights" is beautiful. And the finale "Baseball & Rock & Roll" is an explosion of raw repressed energy which reverberates through the audience like a poet's prayer.
Don't forget, this is a play about outcasts. Maybe all wasn't meant to be perfect. Maybe Ken Post's intent, like poet Arthur Rimbaud's, is the very "derangement of all the senses." I believe that's the case. And I believe Mr. Post is successful in this brave endeavor. With Ken Post and his passionate cast, "Say A Prayer For NYC."
Reviewed on Sunday, August 29, 1999 (Final Performance)
"TIGHTROPE"
Written and directed by Ken Post. Presented at New York Performance Works in August at the New York International Fringe Festival. Final Fringe performance on Sunday, August 29, 1999.
WITH: Bonnie Burns, Jay Byrd, Inge De Grauwe, Wesley De Jonghe, Erin Esposito, Bart Goeteyn, Maarten Muller, Lenny North, Brian Pearce, John Perry, Ken Post, Geert Seminck, Kim Ten Zythoff, Roy Van Der Haagen, and Els Vergauwen. Band: Maarten Muller, guitar; Matt Weiner, bass; Eddie Watkins, drums. Also seen playing a mean saxophone is Lenny North (though not listed).