The Fires Within
Subject:
Fires in the Mirror is an excellent representation of how two people (or two groups) can be a part of the same event and walk away with two completely different stories – this greatly resembles the experience of audience members of the theatre. The same event is witnessed by a crowd yet no one tells the same story; and what’s more impressive is the fact that the incident means something different to everyone.
As with the reenactments of Fires in the Mirror, we see that one small episode can leave people relying on nothing but pure emotion and it is this driving force that compels them to act (in one fashion or another) – just as the theatre can stir feelings within the audience.
I think that what makes this production so incredible is that Anna Deavere Smith plays nineteen different characters and plays each one so convincingly. Complete with accents, gender swaps, and even crossing racial and religious roles, she brings the anger and the rage right up in the face of the audience so that they will be driven to an emotional state of anger, justice, or at least outrage on one or both sides of the fence. And I feel that it is this understanding of both sides that Smith strives to attain; not to the point where we choose sides or that we reconcile what happened, but so that we do not forget.
I saw this come out in one character in the middle of the play – the female youth counselor who stated that “these kids are filled with rage” and that they don’t know who Hitler is no more than they know who Booker T. Washington or Frederick Douglas are. She ends by saying that we need to release the pressure or this will happen again – so the question then becomes, “what do we do?”
This production illustrates how easily the lines of the theatrical and the lines of theatre can be blurred. I found this to be a fascinating script and an even more enthralling performance.
PS - I also discovered that you know you’re completely into an emotion (or at least into character) if you’re spitting all over the place.
posted by Anonymous @ 6:23 PM
1 comments
1 Comments:
I hadn't thought about how Fires in the Mirror reflects divided responses to the same information - or, at least, I hadn't connected that thought to how audiences will experience divided responses to the same performance. It's a powerful comparison.
It strikes me as even more powerful that these divided perspectives are literally united through Smith's performances of them - they share the same body, hers. She becomes a bridge between opposing narratives that cannot conceive of what the other perceives: by doing this, perhaps she enables us to imagine that by listening, as she does, and then witnessing - as she does, e.g. with Mr. Cato, who said "you can repeat every word I say" - it might become possible to build understanding. Theatre can provide a space and technology for pursuing this - for building community (not escaping it).
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