Review: Crandal’s Bag created and performed by Kyle Loven. Music composed by George Maurer. At Washington Ensemble Theatre now through December 20.
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| Kyle Loven and Co-stars of “Crandal’s Bag” at WET through Dec 20. |
Artist Kyle Loven might be labeled a puppeteer, and there’s nothing incorrect or shameful about that, but Mr Loven is more than a manipulator of felt, wood and googly eyed puppets. He’s a craftsmen and genuine performance artist who creates magical, ethereal stories using the dichotomies of human nature and the experiences of living life, both happy and terrifying. He’s not afraid to use beautiful words and music, but he’s also equally unafraid to let silence speak for itself, or to transform light to illuminate his stories, or darkness to shroud the mysteries bound up in those stories. He weaves it all together; the words, sounds, silences, light and darkness to explore the lives and dramas of the characters he creates. And, he frequently does it with tiny dolls, or silver tea sets, or pieces of dry bread, or a gold fish bowel, and yes, actual puppets. Kyle Loven creates magic, but it’s not dime store parlor tricks. It’s done in the library with a candlestick and a book of matches but no one murdered Colonel Peacock. This game of Clue is about creating, not destroying. And, Mr Loven’s new show at Washington Ensemble Theatre, Crandal’s Bag, is a deliciously evocative, fever dream of live theater. It gently haunts you, but not in a bad way, days after experiencing it. Serious theater lovers should not miss the chance to enter his dream world and explore the mysteries it contains.
It’s hard to describe Crandal’s Bag, and I’m not sure I want to. It’s a dream world and interpretations of dreams vary from person to person. It’s a simple set, vaguely resembling a turn of the 19th to 20th century laboratory with curtains on industrial rods, a mirror, an overhead light, and a large trunk. This small set sits squarely in the middle of the larger stage, a small island in the darkness and uncertainty of the surrounding world. Crandal appears and he is in disguise, wearing an obviously false moustache. He performs some slight of hand and invites us into his lab/parlor/home. Obviously, he is a kind man, shy and lonely, and he is eager to make our acquaintance. He tells us stories and gradually reveals to us that he is a Sin-Eater, meaning he absolves the dead of their sins by taking their sin into his own body. But, Crandal is troubled and his life as a Sin-Eater is weighing him down and he begins to withdraw from that world, refusing to take on any more clients. Eventually, the Devil, and his minions, make an appearance to torment (?) Crandal or maybe just bedevil him. Will Crandal discover the secret to his happiness in his magical bag? Is there an answer to life’s problems within ourselves? Or, is it ok to flee the negative to regain our own sense of happiness and self-worth? Crandal’s Bag, and Mr Loven, pose a lot of these questions, and others, depending on your own personal interpretation, but he isn’t here to give us cut and dried answers. Sometimes, (most times) it’s a good idea to look into your own heart/mind/soul/ for the answers to those kinds of questions. You won’t find them on Wikipedia.
I could write a long, long essay on this piece of art, and what it means to me, and what it might mean to you, but I think it’s a show you should experience for yourself. Words on a blog do not do it justice. But, I will heap a bit more praise on the creator of this magic. Kyle Loven is quite young, ridiculously gifted, charmingly humble and he’s an artist you want to experience NOW before he could be lured away to bigger, artier climes. It’s quite possible to see the work of very talented and hard working people in theaters and concert halls and art galleries and cabaret stages all over Seattle but only rarely do you get to see someone touched with artistic grace and vision, and the hint of original artistic clarity and yes, even genius. Go see this young man and the art he devises. It’s a thing of beauty.
Who’s this for? Dreamers. The optimistically moody and slightly perverse. Do you love Miyazaki, or the Brother’s Kray, or Svankmajer, or David Lynch, or Grimm’s Fairy Tales, or Angela Carter? If you said yes, to any of those suggested artists, then you’ll enjoy Crandal’s Bag. If you don’t care for ANY of those artists, then it’s probably not the show for you.
– Michael Strangeways
