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Frida and Herself

nytheatre.com review by Kevin Connell
August 15, 2005

Frida and Herself is an original performance piece centered on the life of Mexican painter Frida Kahlo. It has been choreographed and penned by a creative team of young Canadian artists, all of who are members of the Toronto-based theatre company Anandam.In Frida and Herself they strive to push the boundaries of contemporary theatrical expression by taking the story of a woman of Mexican Indian descent, and actualizing her journey through the influences of Japanese and Indian theatre. This production mixes Bunraku and shadow puppetry, dance, and spoken word in attempts to challenge its audience through a melding of Eastern and Western theatrical influences. But the innovation that this production portends proves unsatisfying because little is revealed about its central subject that is in any way provocative. What we get is a thin line of biographical details that are already available on the Internet, in documentaries, and in textbooks. The facts: Kahlo was born in Mexico City. She was a painter. She survived polio. She was in a bus accident that fractured her back, collarbone, ribs, pelvis, shoulder, and foot. She spent most of her life in constant pain. She fell in love with the muralist Diego Rivera. He slept around on her. She died. What’s missing in Frida and Herself is why Kahlo’s story needs to be told as “theatre.” This missing reason is the production's downfall.The lights come up on an actress portraying Frida. She speaks a monologue that sets a tone ultimately too casual, too linear, and too factual for a production begging to be told through gesture, storytelling, and non-verbal expressions. Yes, some metaphors are there, particularly in the colors of the set and costuming, which, like the garden of oils chosen by Kahlo’s paint brush, reflect a cornucopia of fruits like peaches, lemons, plums, and pomegranates, all expressed here in ribbons, fabrics, paints, and flowers. But the psychological and emotional metaphors, as well as the investigation of imagery from the actual paintings of Kahlo, are essentially underrealized. Yes, there is an interesting dance between Kahlo and a suspended skeletal model of a vertebral column and pelvis. And yes, there is success in the design and execution of the life-size puppets. And the impact of storytelling through shadow imagery is quite effective. But, this production fails to give due emphasis to these potentially illuminating devices. For example, I ask, what is the message gained by using a life-size puppet in a scene instead of simply using a live actor? It’s a question I wish Frida and Herself had investigated and answered.This is a talented company with potential. I applaud their desire to re-think the theatrical event.