This is not a shop

The Wreckio Ensemble reviewed in Irish Theatre Magazine

Published July 22, 2008

“The Ladies Aide Society Invites You To A Poverty Party To Benefit The Foundation For Ethical Art And Culture” was a collaboration between thisisnotashop & New York based theatre company The Wreckio Ensemble. The review included below was written by Áine Ivers for Irish Theatre Magazine.

In 2008, Dublin art gallery ThisIsNotAShop collaborated with New York based theatre company The Wreckio Ensemble who devised The Ladies Aide Society Invites You To A Poverty Party To Benefit The Foundation For Ethical Art And Culture for performance in the gallery. The performance space was treated as vital input into the creation and content of the production.

The production unfolded in the form of a classical myth. The artist-hero, facing impossible challenges, sets out to achieve his mission of making art without succumbing to the dangers of the corporate world. Three well-to-do ladies bestow an award on him as their chosen American artist. He faces the perils of encountering each of them as they try to seduce, trap or tame him into making art that serves their desires, beliefs and needs. The ladies resemble in character classical allegories of virtues and vices. They seem to be female forms of Tradition, Greed and Fame. The artist-hero is a contemporary Perseus as he strives to prove that he can make free, independent and critical art while taking on corporate systems. This plot provided a framework within which the relationships between contemporary art and corporate, terror-ridden America were explored with tripping looseness. Umpteen character changes, humour, physicality and a constant exploration of the nature of the gallery space widened the story into ever more interdependent spirals of art and capitalist greed, that culminated in a clever and critical twist.

The audience was swept along as part of the performance, through constant redefinition of the role of the viewer. It spilled out onto the street as a chirpy museum guide ushered the audience to view exhibits of ‘modern artists’ from behind the windows of ThisIsNotAShop. Even Luas passengers were momentarily integrated into the story as they trundled past the production. Through many character changes the group investigated the potential of the physical, intellectual and psychological space of the venue. This involved a constant recalibration of physical distances and relationships throughout, such as a tense seduction scene between the artist and a corporate ‘Lady’, as they created strange distances and intimacies in the gallery. The combinations of characters and use of space in the narrative highlighted aspects of the state of art in America, the dubious power that corporate and capitalist structures have over the life and actions of the artist, and the mutual seductiveness that lies between art and capitalist greed.
The production was at its weakest when it employed performance art methodologies as theatrical structures for metaphor. The sharp satire and comedy that it held throughout was lost at these points as it slipped into mimicking the function of the art gallery. It came close to resembling mediocre performance art at such moments. But these parts were few, the strengths of the wry theatrical commentary on art, funding and corporate power were clear, incisive and held the audience. A critical and comical stance was maintained when the doubling-up of the visual art space and the theatre space was projected onto the audience, rather than when it was attempted to embody this doubledness in the performance itself.

Claims are often made for contemporary art as an attempt to resist or criticize dominant systems. This production reminded me that things that attempts to resist or remain outside the capitalist system can still be perceived a threat to the system. It is easy to forget how threatened systems can sometimes be by opposing forces or ways of working. It seems a relevant point, especially when capitalist systems shake unsteadily under the weight of their own weaknesses and we begin to forget that capitalism once faced opposition outside of itself. The Ladies Aide Society… reminds us of the difficulties of trying to resist the absorption of the freedom of artistic expression into the system. It achieved this through its structure, but also through the nature of the collaboration between ThisIsNotAShop and The Wreckio Ensemble. It was a grassroots effort based on passion and belief in the concept; the crossover from theatre into visual art structures. The independent organisation of the production and its performance in Dublin somehow reflects the call in the plot of the play itself for faith in the independence of artistic expression, and belief in the pursuit of artistic practice.

Áine Ivers is a visual artist based at The Market Studios, Smithfield, Dublin.

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