ONE LEFT HOUR: 

THE LIFE AND WORK OF DANIIL KHARMS 


by Good Old Neon 

Randolph Theatre 

July 11 (5:15pm) 
July 12 (noon) 
July 13 (11pm) 
July 14 (5:15pm)

photos of the cast by Nicholas Porteous

Good Old Neons One Left Hour, what one might call a celebratory anti-celebration of an absurdist poet's tortured work, is a splendid tour de force that has the ensemble portraying and performing elements of Daniil Kharms work, persona, and philosophy in a fast paced, beautifully rhythmic hodgepodge of surreal delight and meditation. 

Kharms oeuvre was certainly not about the lighter aspects of the social milieu he inhabited and rebelled against, and One Left Hour represents this with the kind of commitment and respect absurdism demands in order to make the seeming chaos that underlies the action remain both chaotic and clearsighted throughout.

His prison meditation, both spare in tone and lush in meditative sentiment (image below) exemplifies his dedication to both producing intense work and abandoning it when the situation demands. Good Old Neon has taken these qualities and infused their production with moments of audience confrontation and the support of a vocal stage management and tech crew that break all four walls throughout the piece, enteriaining with high spirited physicality, haunting melancholy puppetry, and an exuberance and commitment to the project that fills every moment. The result is a bizarre, beautiful, puzzling, and provocative journey through the work of a bizarre, beautiful and puzzling artist who relentlessly made his art through despite great personal hardship.The current fringe production, honouring his artistic output, is a fine testament to the endurance of even the most non traditional or theatrical aesthetics.

(An Unsuccessful Show)

included in the programme of One Left Hour