The Arts in New York City

So, the mystery continues. I don’t get much of it. It seems like mostly everyone agrees that Cornell’s life was a box of mysteries. In class, I didn’t even know what the heck to feel when writing about the box with things about King of Bavaria. So, my expectations were fulfillled. I fell into a frenzy of confusion. Questions rolled more into my head than interpretations about the play. I read everyone who blogged so far before blogging my own. It answered most of my questions, but I’m not sure if my satisfaction derives from a need for some kind of answer or from an actual agreement.

First off, did anyone notice that, in the postcard I passed out to everyone (from Prof. Drabik) after we left the BAM, the desk on stage was placed on the astronomical background. That desk was actually set away from that background during the performance. I just thought it was an interesting observation worth noting.

I was very confused by the transition between the mind and reality at many points in the play. The only time I ever sensed the transition was at the beginning when the lighting signaled a shift from a fantasy about food to the question, “what will you have?”
The woman who started singing, “What Is this Thing Called Love”? was amusing, but I didn’t understand where that moment fit. Or, when the woman who talked about people not wearing shoes. As I wrote in someone’s blog, I thought they were outside or something but I realized they were not when she placed her poem on Joseph’s desk. Were they actually in his basement? I thought ‘that’s impossible’. I didn’t know where the setting was for most of the play. Also, what was the purpose of those three men chatting away? I tried to interpret them as representatives of reality, people who were getting business done, carrying normal lives, and interacting socially. If the conversation appeared pointless, they would just leave because they had other matters to deal with. They were not what Joseph Cornell represented at all.

Cornell shaped his own world–one secluded from the real things in life. I enjoyed the way he kept everything he saw or was placed on his desk. For example, when he had cake with the ballerina, he pocketed the strings from the box. He did it for no reason at all, or so it seemed. Perhaps just for documentation. The tone of the actor playing Joseph Cornell was spot on. Childish, naive, and unsophisticated–a tone one would expect from a person who has never stepped into the realms of the professional world. Also, the people who started walking across the stage from different angles (the mother, ballerina, and others) in the beginning came off to me as people who were important to him, or the ones he only knew.

Back to perplexity. The guy in all white confused me as well. What was he doing in that clownish looking suit? He was among the trio I mentioned two paragraphs ago.

The fact that the plot seemed so nonlinear made this play more confounding. It’s not too bad. I just wish there was a way for this abstract piece to sink in concretely.

On a positive note, I appreciated the area we were in. It was beaten, rundown, and almost about to cave in. I liked that. Besides Joseph sitting at his desk with his hands in his face looking concerned and worried, that rundown look increased my sense of anticipation.

-Evan