anightingalesang

Quick note on 5th floor.

I haven’t been to the McKinnon for almost 2 months, so it took me a while to get used to its vibe again. I was kind of wandering in the space not devoting myself into following any character, until after Witches 1 I sneak into the Macbeths suite then literally stand still and could not breathe - Xuehao and Yuli were the Macbeths.

They were one of the cutest and sweetest couples you would see in real life, and it can easily be sensed in their intimate interaction in the early Macbeths scenes. My favourite moment is when they reunite, this Macbeth would hold his wife’s face and gently stroked her hair, it was really touching to see he care his wife that much.

This couple of Macbeths was really unique as they did everything out of their love to each other - Macbeth didn’t necessarily want to act that evil, he initiated all these thinking he was bring a better life to the family; and this Lady Macbeth hesitated - even was reluctent - to be the center of the crime, but she did those things anyway, in order to support her husband. It was really sad to see how they ended up being completely not like the person they once were. Ah, the fortune’s fool.

Yuli’s Lady Macbeth is one of the most human Lady Macbeth I’ve seen. Especially in her solo scenes her emotions appeared so direct and so real. Of course she had desire, but equally, there were obvious fear. Her mirror solo was not about the dance itself but all about the inner confrontation, and had such power to capture your full compassion.

Another scene that impressed me a lot was the Macbeths in the bathtub after Duncan’s murder. For one moment Lady Macbeth hid herself back to the wall, denying to face Macbeth, while Macbeth suddenly collapsed, sprayed all water out, then finally Lady Macbeth made the decision to be with her husband - that moment had such intensity.

At the end of the loop Yuli grabbed me, as one of the ghosts that were distracting her mind, to the center of the walled garden. She tried to kiss my hand, then get very frightened by the few dots of lipstick she left - “Out, damned spot” I would quote.

I’ve never had such strong sense of “partner in crime” with any other character/performer before. For me, such sense of myself being involved into the storytelling, is the most rewarding experience I could get from this show.

Back to January 2017, when Yuli quietly debuted as swing Bald Witch, I was lured by her from the very start of the show (aka the Ballroom party), followed her for almost a full loop and ended it with one kiss on my hand.

After so many years, so much happened for this show and for me as an audience, one thing that doesn’t change is that for most time when I choose to follow Yuli and devote my emotion into the storytelling she presents (and for some reason she always had such power to let me fully immerse myself), she would somehow magically sense such devotion/obsession and always give me something special - not necessarily an interaction, maybe a look or a way to interperate certain scenes - and I always feel welcomed and rewarded.

Some days a miracle happen when you are totally not expecting it: Nick Bruder’s Porter FINALLY happen in Shanghai!

After spending more time with his Boy Witch recently I was not surprised by how depressed his Porter was. However I really didn’t expect that he could be so dedicated to this job, like working in the hotel really mattered to his life.

This Porter is just the most humble “nobody” in this hotel: he would always bow to Duncan, maybe not because he really respected this person (btw, Steven’s Porter appeared to be), but becaue Duncan was the lord; he was happy to get any witch’s attention (even get a conversation with Bald), because they were superior creatures to him.

His boat though. It was nothing like what Porters usually do in Shanghai. I heard that he cried a lot in the first reset, so in the second reset, instead of “take my tears” he wrote “You already had my tears”, like he was fed up with these endless loops over and over. 

Caring about his job as he appeared to be beforehands, he must be very distracted and depressed, as for that moment he didn’t care anymore - even when a terrible murder was happening at his lobby.

I was somehow lured into this context, and found that he didn’t do the normal “boat sailing” but turned it into an elaborated interation. His Porter and his Boy Witch seem to be two sides of one coin to me - always “hers”, always have no choice, and he always know that too clearly.

Another scene that impressed me a lot was his Moonlight. I haven’t seen anyone doing Moonlight like that in Shanghai - when the music start he would stand at the center of the lobby, facing the key cabinet. It remined me instantly of the lobby layout in NY - there should be a mirror. Then he found his “mirror” equivalent, the smooth copper surface of the counter, so he could hug his reflection and get into this dreamy fantasy land.

There were no intense dance moves, but slow, twisting gestures, like how a doll would be posed. But still he tried hard to grab the light - he was longing for something deep inside afterall. It was so touching.

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Delayed random notes.

*Spoiler Alert*

David Botana.

Surprisingly, I never had chance to see Nick Bruder’s Boy Witch before. After 10 seconds following him, I immediately started to ask myself “how could I just see this beauty?”

Unlike many others, this Boy Witch is uniquely dirty, sad and erotic. He seems to be one of the few who really admires Porter - maybe more in a sexual way, but he admires Porter anyway. There was strong eye-contact during his cabaret, and gradually, the sweet, dreamy vibe was absent, instead (maybe as he realized that he could not have real emotions) you see the unhappiest boy in the world, that he would not even fake to keep lip-syncing. The blankness of that moment was heartbreaking.

He was also one of the excellent performers who would bring the contradition in his character to the extreme. In his “spotlight” scenes he was exaggerating, determined and ruthless, but if you follow him into those quieter moments, it was obvious that he “performed” to be like that. There was even a sense of self hatred. His pooltable solo was extrodinarily impressive in that way - and would warn you beforehand that it was going to get dirty, I like that a lot.

Although there wasn’t any real “audience-interaction” for now, he would sneak in random eye-contacts, expressions or dialogues, to make his followers feel “involved”.

With Steven’s Porter they gave me one of the best BW & Porter vibes, maybe the best I’ve seen in the McKinnon.

I started watching his Porter from the reset. In that quiet moment he chose to spare himself from working, instead spent time with the cloth of Boy Witch to get some comfort - I’ve seen him done that before, but this time it seemed more sexual and, sadder, if you relate with the situation he was in.

Strangly, they seem really loved each other (ah the start of the loop was even a bit Romeo & Juliet if you ask me). For once Porter even initiated a hide-and-seek game, and it was rare to see sense of panic from a Boy Witch’s face. It was huge fun.

But there comes the Phonebooth duet. Boy Witch was seductive and ruthless, Porter though - he started with full trust, then get confused, heartbroken but didn’t gave up. Ah my heart was torn seeing them ended that bad.

It is worth mentioning that although 1:1s didn’t happen, Porter has a perfect scene now in his office. The idea was similar to Porter’s “I’ll Never Smile Again” scene in NY but the detail was different. It echoes with what happens upstairs during that scene, and I feel it is all about Porter’s desperate feeling in that moment. (Side note: Steven’s Porter didn’t do it in every loop though, he had some other ideas with mirrors.)

And the beautiful, quiet moment of Moonlight. Some certain images from the past came to my mind during that scene, that nostalgic feeling made it sadder - sometimes I find myself trapped in this building not because of the show itself, but because of the many layers of past memories and personal feelings. 

Other notes of this cast:

- David Botana’s Macduff and Yuli’s Sexy Witch get better with time. How could they interpret these characters so perfectly, as well as bringing out those effortless dances?

- Debby’s Bald Witch. Her edgy personality made her inviolable.

McKinnon is back, with no more than 30% of full-capacity (100-ish audiences per show), mandatory facemask and disposable glove along with the show mask, without any 1:1 and most of the intimate interactions - but it’s back, and in this strange time it is more or less “privileged” to be in an audience.

I’m more than glad that PinChieh’s Nurse is a regular thing now. She is really the wicked master of 5th floor - the fact that Nurse/Matron loop now will not be interupted by frequent 1:1s only make it better for her: there’s such space for creativity!

This Nurse somehow inherited a bit of James/Anna’s character with the “absent patient” (btw, James/Anna is no longer on duty now as they don’t use the elevator to bring people in). The patient’s pajamas gave her a lot of comfort - she would talk to him/her, dance with him/her, even trying to measure his/her weight, although at one point, she would realize that this patient does not exsist in the moment. It was actually thrilling to observe, like hanging out with someone who is turning back and forth from the boundary of sanity.

Although 1:1s cannot happen these days, she would still involve some detail from centain 1:1s to enrich her character. Personally I find it is making more sense because it is connected with a long-neglected corner which unveils the symptom of allotriophagia in this hospital. Also she would do a lot of peeping, adding unexpecting details, making the loop extra interesting and even rewarding.

For both shows she paired with Sujie’s Matron - this duo is just INSANE. They managed to find the right timing to turn Matron’s solo scene in Husband’s bedroom to a double scene - a wedding scene for most of the times. And it always get alternate endings - happy ones, sad ones, even horror ones. (Also, if you’ve seen Pin’s Matron back in January, you would have different feeling.)

For one show where only me and another fellow white mask was watching, we were even somehow involved first as hide-and-seekers, then as invited guests (or symbols, if you take serious of its Chinese folk tale tradition). It was real fun.

They also take a lot of Shining references - sometimes maybe too much for passing-by white masks, but for me it’s more than satisfying.

Other than that the Matron loop is also amazing with Sujie. Without any 1:1 she managed to catch the character’s “Green Snake” side, making it convincing, even tragic, to watch. This creature is not ignorant about her fate (like Husband), but time after time she devoted herself to be another being because of her sisterhood with Bride.

These two characters now have a beautiful scene together at the start of the loop. If you know a bit more about them (by having their should-be 1:1s here), stories of the “lonely child” and the “sisters” cannot help but appear in mind as some soild, sad background knowledge, to make it extra emotional. If you think further on what the other character would do in some of their solo scenes, suddenly it touches you like seeing the story with double narritive.

In the end when Bride went to see Husband, almost all audiences left with her, leaving Matron curling down in the shadow alone. If you get close to her, you would hear her weeping quietly. I haven’t had such uneasy feeling in this show for a long time.

"A nightingale tells her fairytale."

5th floor inspirations.

My first show in 2020 was blessed with the swing ladies (again).

Ching-I’s Lady Macduff was the first character I saw entering the show. It was Moonlight time and I was immediately captured by her gentleness and love, let alone beautiful movements as usual.

Her duet with David was beautiful and difficult - you would expect that with two of the best dancers in this building anyways. I love how Ching-I appeared tender and obedient (like any “old fashioned” wives do) yet somehow stubborn with her belief. The tension between these couple in “Lights Out” can tell a lot about their behaviors afterwards.

Then the ballroom party was when this Lady Macduff truly broke my heart. I’ve never seen any Lady Macduff dance a bit by herself in the very center of the ballroom after Sexy Witch grabbed her husband - it made her visually the center of attention, but if you consider the fact that she had just been outcasted from this social scene, you would see the contradiction of joy and pain, trust and betrayal, fortune and misfortune, in this one character.

I cried a bit seeing her enjoying herself there like nothing happened.

And I finally got to see Eleonore’s Bride. I always think this track is the most relatable, most beautiful and most emotional one in the whole show, and it always killed me a bit doing a full journey with her. Eleonore’s Bride was young, brave and very true to her heart. Her loop was a roller-coaster of emotion and I LOVE IT.

One iconic moment was her transfiguration after Witches 8 - I’ve never seen it been done with such pain and such regret. Knowing what she had came through you would feel for her without a doubt.

Her solo dance in the bamboo forest itself was not to be missed (because of the breathtaking moves). Then, if you happen to be in a good position, you would see tear on her face. It was such a compelling moment with all the feelings suddenly overwhelm your emotion - the lighting, the context of story, the surroundings, all too perfect.

My full respect to whoever wrote the script for Bride/Husband for SNM Shanghai. You are a genius. This story came with deep roots of Chinese culture in its gene, told in the most beautiful form of dance theater, connected with the Punchdrunk tradition in a perfect way (“loop” is the most important word), and created such a universal romantic story.

Ended my show with Yuli’s Anna and it was huge fun! Her moves were unusual - even the limb dance was not necessarily what it meant originally but something of her own use to make sense of this character (that lingered in this place for far too long and started to have the place grown on her).

It was my last visit in 2019 so once again I followed a certain Duncan as it almost felt like a religious thing.

Started the loop right from the first murder - Tomislav’s Macbeth is not bad, I have to say. And I miss the feathers so extra kudos for him.

Then there came the Duncan’s reborn. I think he has made a set pattern of the choreography from previous tryings. I used to think it had heavy Macbeth / Walled Garden references, but the outcome now seemed not like Macbeth at all - it’s Duncan’s own feeling being told through his own ways, about how he remaster his body like in a maze, and much more.

What cannot be missed and would only happen in the 1st loop is his way down to the crypt. Stairs and corridors became mental when Eric was using them. For this show it was especially beautiful and technical as I haven’t seen him use the handrail to slide down for ages. I now kind of settle with the realization that I would never get that Duncan 1:1 again, but I do like how Eric would actually look at every single white mask before making choices.

The 2nd loop didn’t start very smoothly - not only I bumped into other audiences (because I’m dumb), so did the performers and black masks (because the crowd was just so huge). That whole Duncan’s suite scene was kind of scary and disturbing, but still Eric and Adam together made the best Duncan / Malcolm scene ever. Huge yeses to their towel game, the fact that they helped each other with the bowtie to make their beloved son/father look neat, and Eric’s little taps with “Tuxedo Junction”.

(Meanwhile Macbeth's shadow can be seen from outside. I love the contrast here.)

Another thing that I found very interesting about this Duncan was his way back to the suite after he got poisoned by Lady Macbeth. Usually Eric would sing a bit of “Stardust”, recently more details were added and I found a lot of fun watching them  - he tried to figure out the texture of the wall paint (which is also used in the lobby), hid himself by the corners, whispered to the statues, and kicked the dirts. He was very drunk, very poisoned, but tailoring the details in a very specific way.

Another good thing in this show was Ching-I’s Bald Witch. I always wanted to see her after I knew this became a thing. Once again she managed to make a role of her own from mastering the technic and enriching the context. Strangely, I knew Ching-I had the sense of natural power in her movement but it seemed very not like the power of Bald Witches we used to see. I would say it felt more like a power of magic, that she could really control things beyond what she should be.

And obviously she kept her hair and didn’t do the reveal thing even in the slightest hint - so maybe this witch is another kind of superpower. Her solo dance in the ballroom was also quite unique - for me personally it reminded me of some very traditional Chinese way of movement.

Other things worth mentioning:

- This ballroom party was one of the best in recent months. Adam’s Malcolm and Steven’s Boy Witch were playful and lively; Ching-I’s Bald and Samuel’s Banquo gave solid dance moves; David’s Macduff and Sarah’s Sexy wild as usual - and with Eleonore’s Lady Macduff they were really quite something that everyone should watch.

- Once again David Botana’s Macduff touched me with unexpected details. In the “Lights Out” duet he grabbed his wife’s hand to stop her from her superstition rituals, and instead put her hand on his face like saying “touch me I’m the real person beside you and I’ll always support you”... That moment was so dear to my heart.

One quick thing to remember - for one loop the prop bear was absent, thus a certain Taxidermist (Mr. Adam Griffith) had to improvise a lot to fill the scenes. A “Friend or Foe” game was hosted and it was huge fun (and very Taxidermist considering what he did in the 1:1). Surprisingly we are always friends, ha.

For this show you have: Nicolas Bruder as Macbeth, Tim Heck as Duncan, Adam Griffith as Malcolm, David Botana as Macduff, and Steven Apicello as Banquo - aka, a whole party of McKittrick alumni in the McKinnon.

Oh lord, they are really good.

I always wanted to see Tim Heck’s (Shanghai) Duncan as I liked his Macbeth and Porter in New York. This King is at the prime of his life, younger than many other Duncans we’ve seen, therefore appears much more ambitious, and cares much more about his power. 

He seems never really trust his son - I cannot remember any other Duncan acting that paranoid in the shaving scene. The tension in that scene actually made me unnecessarily nervous, as if they may really end up killing one another at some point.

The solo in the chapel and his reborn were also fantastic. I especially like how he was able to coordinate the lights into his narrative.

And for once, the reborned Duncan ran into his murderer on a narrow pathway. So for once, he came to the truth before he should be - that was a shocking moment.

And there was Steven’s Banquo. I ran into his fight with Nick’s Macbeth at the very start of my evening, and after this one scene I can barely leave him in the following loop. Their fight in the speakeasy bar is so real - as not only Macbeth want to kill Banquo so he would never tell the truth, this Banquo also sees the chance to make revenge on the murdered (but sadly fail).

Big yeses to Steven’s acting skills which makes the Banquo loop extra beautiful. Only recently I realized that how much context he was able to put into the building of a character - he must have worked really hard to dig deep into the somewhat loose setting of the show. Even the way he rang the alarm after discovering Duncan’s death let me think of something, and such enlightenment seemed rare thus precious for me these days.

Also, two swing ladies made my evening (again) - Eleonore was Lady Macduff and Yuli was Danvers.

Surprisingly I never watched Eleonore’s Lady Macduff when she was on regularly. Everything she brings out seemed new for me - her Lady Macduff is young, naive and lively. With David’s Macduff they made a lot of noise in the suite duet before the ballroom dance. They seemed really argue quite often - but after-all everything was OK, and they giggled with each other like two best friends, how lovely.

My heart was also filled with love seeing them doing moves of the ballroom party dance in the corner when hardly anyone in the party noticed them. Ha I do miss them as Macduff and Sexy Witch.

And her murder scene, I just can’t... Eleonore’s Lady Macduff had regret on having this child in previous scenes - I guess this child was unexpected for her - but for this moment, suddenly, this woman became so brave for her child.

Then David’s reaction when he found his wife’s body was one of the touchiest moment in the show for a long time. I was at the very first row of the audiences so the pain was too clear that it was hard to not shed a few tears.

And a Macduffs or Duncan loop will definitely get better with a great Danvers - luckily in this show we have Yuli in this role. She was one of the most sophisticated in this role, executing every evil act without the slightest hesitation - the uncrowned Queen in this space, I would say.

But in very few moments, when she was really into herself, you would know that the loneliness and unfulfilled desire was deep there in her mind.

Cast comes and goes. Guess who is back watching (and write very long recaps). Ha.