Manifold's "Under" Rises (Sinks?) to the Occasion, Ghostlight's "Midsummer" Charms

"Under" from Manifold Motion (Photo: Divide)

After having yearned for immersive performance experiences a couple of weeks ago, I had my wish granted a second time by Manifold Motion's Under (through November 28, tickets $12-$30).

Under, (previewed by The SunBreak here, including an interview with Manifold Motion's artistic director Keely Isaak Meehan), is an ambitious cross-disciplinary work inspired by "lichens, fungi, mosses, and molds".  You might think that sounds like a challenging concept to build an engaging performance from, and you would be right. Manifold Motion rises (or perhaps lowers?) to the challenge.

This is a performance that surrounds you with sights, textures, sounds, and the smell of soil. Built at Inscape in SoDo, Under features one of the most impressive dance solos I've seen in quite some time, by the amazing Elizabeth Rose.  Inspired by a man with a rare condition that made his appendages look like tree roots, Rose plants her hands on the floor and doesn't remove them for the entire length of her performance. It's an incredible display of agility, strength, and grace.

The greatest achievement of Under, though, is the lush and living space that Manifold has built for the performances to occupy. The walls breathe, ooze, and wriggle. From the ceilings to the floors, the attention to detail is what makes this a performance worth seeing. The installation spans across three rooms. I wished it were ten. Even though there were a couple of moments in the choreography where I started to feel a little restless, there were so many more moments of hey-look-at-that! that if there are shortcomings in the choreography itself, they're easily overlooked and quickly forgotten.

There are three performances of Under each evening every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday through November 28, and as each performance is limited to about 15 people, you should buy your tickets in advance.

Occupying another area of the performance spectrum entirely, Ghostlight Theatricals closes its charming production of A Midsummer Night's Dream this weekend (through Sunday, tickets $12-$15).

What can you really say about Shakespeare that hasn't already been? That's always the challenge with a new production of a classic. Ghostlight mostly goes the traditional route, thankfully eschewing a high-concept reimagining of one of the Bard's most popular comedies. There's a bit of an attempt in director R.A. Bergquist's program notes to relate the play to our current digital world. That idea is most visibly played out through J.H. Welch's set design, a series of sculptural pieces incorporating computer parts and abstract ideas of greenery meant to suggest a virtual forest for the play to inhabit.

Ghostlight's Midsummer is mostly notable for the quality of the performances from its enormous cast of eighteen. (They have to take their curtain call several rows deep across the stage--it's something to behold.) Allison Wooldridge, Steve West, Beth Raas, and Stephen Scheide form the heart of the play as the four young lovers Helena, Demetrius, Hermia, and Lysander, respectively; and Jessica Stepka looks like she's having a blast as the mischievous Puck. The audience certainly had a blast the night I was there.

If an evening of Shakespeare sounds like a good night in out of the cold, Midsummer and Seattle Shakespeare Co's current production of Hamlet  are both good bets.