Photo by Andy Walsh
Quasimondo Milwaukee Physical Theatre’s final offering in Studio G, Kama Sutra , taps the Hindu pantheon to explore love, sex and relatedness as they exist both in our time and transcendently. Per the company’s usual modus, the piece was devised in small groups working on individual scenes that were then arranged by director Brian Rott. The Hindu gods serve as a great organizing feature in this production; where in other Quasi shows the smaller narratives sometimes felt disjointed, here the many relationships interconnected with a coherence that facilitated both the ability to track them through the larger narrative and find individual moments of interest.
Production values were dazzling. Bridget Cookson and David John George’s scenic design included a stunning silk curtain that the actors used to divide the space, stage puppet plays and make interesting entrances. Set pieces such as a circular dais and wheeled three-door unit furnished the performers further opportunities for statuesque tableaux and vibrant ensemble dance numbers. Rott’s sound and lighting design, while diverse and inclusive of traditional Indian strains, leaned heavily on The Beatles’ period of immersion in Indian culture—an apt reflection of Kama Sutra ’s unification of the wisdom of a single culture with the human experience across time and place. Alyssa Bolden’s sumptuous costume design features rich Indian fabrics and bells, as well as significant nudity. Although perhaps unsuitable for younger audiences, the latter is tasteful and in keeping with the thematic exploration of how humans interact as physical, gendered beings.
The show features many shining performance moments, both in ensemble and small group forms. Because dialogue is almost nonexistent, viewers are likely to draw very different conclusions about the action and its import, but this seems a conscious decision on the company’s part and one, which although sometimes frustrating, certainly yields rich conversation after the show.
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One of Kama Sutra ’s standout vignettes occurs between Shiva and Parvati (Jenni Reinke and Alison Von Brown). Here Shiva is a transman and the two seek to have a baby with assistance from Ganesha—Thom Cauley’s appealingly gentle elephant god, whose only moments of cruelty are directed at himself. Reinke and Von Brown’s wordless embodiment of falling in love, facing a difficult life choice, parting and reconvening is riveting. Of note is a virtuosic solo dance from Reinke in which she strips off her clothes and binds her breasts tightly with cellophane. Standing alone in the context of this and other scenes, is Rachel Buth’s Kali. Her physical characterization—roving eyes, extended tongue and hissing yogic breathing—is terrifying and brilliant.
Kama Sutra is an ideal vehicle for considering topics like love and sex because, like those spheres of experience, it is multilayered in meaning and sonsorily lush at every turn.
Through March 26 at Studio G in the Shops of Grand Avenue, 161 W. Wisconsin Ave. For tickets, visit thequasimondo.com.
