Searching for real life through the lens of art

By Josh Malbin

For all the intellectual hype, Daniel Levin, PC '98, writer and director of Impression of Panic Rising, says that people should understand his play simply as a series of failures in human relationships. These failures stem primarily from a fear of the real--the sensation of panic that sets in when characters are forced to face reality. In these instances, they find their escapes in the understanding of art.

Art, and the self-reflexive understanding of a play as an art form that perpetuates the escape from real-life problems, is a dominant theme. Remmy (Andrew Winton,
JE '01) is a tour guide at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and in the first half of the play, he leads a tour group through works of post-impressionist painting. His analysis reveals a personal investment in the meanings he creates. The paintings are projected on the walls throughout the rest of the play; we are meant to understand the highly artificial discussion of the play as the attempt to create an impression which does not shy away from real life. As Remmy says, Van Gogh was not afraid to use black.

The theme of taking refuge in art is repeated in the character of Syd (David Blasher, DC '01), who hides his attraction to Lucille (Lindsey Tucker, MC '01) behind an obsession with Dickens. Every interaction in his life is mediated through Dickens, and when he tries to encounter the world (in the figure of Lucille) on his own, he is painfully rebuffed.

The play follows the actions of a relatively large group of characters over the course of two full days. Since it attempts to capture as much of what occurs in that time as possible, it feels as though there are simply too many scenes, and it becomes difficult to understand the message of every one. This multiplication of moments and characters is confusing, especially at the beginning, when I felt overwhelmed by the variety of different people with whom I was supposed to become acquainted, as well as the specificity and nuances of their various relationships.

The play starts to become more clear, however, when one realizes that misdirection is another, highly pervasive theme. Throughout the production we are given hints about the "real" intellectual message of the play. If one was to try to put a message together halfway through the show, it would have to incorporate such sundry elements as the desecration of art by the "Slasher," Remmy's discussion of "dead time," the themes of at least two Broadway musicals, and an understanding of the paintings discussed. By the end, however, we are meant to understand that these were all mistakes, intellectual red herrings, or a way of avoiding the real issue, life.

I was continually surprised at how well Winton and Blasher were able to pull off what seemed like an impossible feat: conveying, through a screen of intellectualism, their characters' underlying emotions. Other characters are better able to be themselves and, always ably portrayed, provide a counterpoint to Remmy and Syd's obsessiveness. Nathaniel Garrett's, ES '00, portrayal of Letham was just a hell of a lot of fun to watch, and to play Eddie, Levin has found an actual kid (Ian Biggs), who runs around and occasionally bursts Remmy's bubble.

Unfortunately, there are a number of problems with trying to get at the real issues through a discussion of art that self-consciously proclaims that all discussion is avoidance. After the audience finds out that it has been misdirected by an element of the play, that element does not disappear. Our understanding of the play then has to take into account that it is a misdirection, which is a new thing in itself, and I became fascinated with the specifics of the final correct understanding, which is not, perhaps, what the playwright intended.

Also, real life is full of politics. The selection of post-impressionist art is both deliberate and telling in this regard, since many impressionist and post-impressionist painters (particularly Gauguin, who is used heavily in the play) have been criticized for their fetishization and objectification of women in their art and their treatment of women in their lives.

A necessary response to the presence of this kind of artwork would have been a script presenting fully realized female characters, but unfortunately all the women are foils for the main (male) characters' neuroses. Is it okay that Remmy has trouble dealing with Gloria (Janaki Ranpura, BR '98) because he is afraid he might merely be exoticizing her? Perhaps not if she is not allowed to negate that possibility for the audience, if not for Remmy.

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