Wednesday, October 29, 1997
Standard Deviations
DANCE: Lloyd Newson of DV8 Physical Theater examines
the secret lives of everyday men in ‘Enter Achilles.’
By Nerissa Pacio
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
Secrets – everyone has them.
A man privately caresses his blow-up sex-doll lover. Another man
envisions homoerotic fantasies of hanging 30 feet in the air,
climbing rope with other men. And others dream up a Superman figure
in his undies dancing to "Staying Alive."
Bizarre and yet simultaneously fascinating, these secrets could
only be lifted from the lives of fictional characters in a
hallucinogenic psychodrama, of course. But Lloyd Newson would argue
differently.
As the director-choreographer of the dance troupe DV8 Physical
Theater, whose newest work, "Enter Achilles," opens Thursday at
UCLA’s Freud Playhouse, Newson attests that this fantasy world may
be much closer to reality than you think. Maybe even too close.
"One of the things you’ll learn about men is that size is
everything," Newson laughs. "If men went around wearing penises on
their necks, there would be a lot less bulls–!"
As the primary theme of "Enter Achilles," Newson alludes to the
insecurities and competitive nature of men which leads to such
buried secrets, "shameful" fantasies and a forced public appearance
of traditionally masculine behavior.
"The longer I’ve lived, the more I’ve really realized that size
is everything. And that is why most men on stage are afraid to take
their clothes off," Newson says. "They are perfectly happy to see
women take their clothes off. We see women’s breasts all the time,
so men make comments, but they’d be less vocal if we could all see
the size of their penises. I mean, that allows men to get away with
a lot of bulls– because we can’t."
As a performance that melds dance with theater, DV8 strives to
assign meaning to movements in order to tell a story and explore
societal issues. This combination is unsurprising considering
Newson’s background. Born in Australia, Newson, now 40, earned a
bachelor’s degree in psychology while studying dance at the
University of Melbourne.
Following Newson’s footsteps of combining dance and psychology,
"Enter Achilles" which has been labeled as "intended for mature
audience only," examines the male psyche by exposing the behavior
of eight heterosexual drunk men in a British pub, the ultimate
staked-out male territory, largely through movement.
DV8 has always been known for dissecting sexual politics,
beginning with their 1986 premiere of "My Sex Our Dance," and the
1988 work "Dead Dreams of Monochrome Men," which concentrated on
gay issues and the even more shocking issues of necrophilia. "Enter
Achilles" takes the next step into the private realm of straight
men who ironically use the medium of dance to express
masculinity.
"The byline of our company is that we attach meaning to
movement, which I think not that many dance companies do. But our
guys talk as well. I think one of the most interesting things is
that people don’t consider us a dance company but say that it could
only be done by dancers," Newson says. "As far as I’m concerned, we
are a dance company, we move all the time – it’s just that we
challenge what dance can be."
While there is some text and music in "Enter Achilles," the
precise movements mold the characters and assert the bolder social
statements. The all-male cast, dressed in homogonous grey suits,
guzzle their full pints of brew (because after all, among brawny
men, a half-pint is deemed "faggot-ish," Newson says). They
hilariously strut about in a rough and tumble, and then darkly
resort to a mock rape of Sandy, the plastic sex doll.
"Does the doll represent a real woman or just a doll?" Newson
rhetorically questions. "Does she not represent a bit of plastic
with air inside it? Does she not also represent an object of fun,
because if it was an inflatable male doll … or an inflatable
kangaroo, would the men not do the same thing? It’s too complex and
I sometimes get a little bit frustrated with simplistic readings on
that front."
These are the complexities that arise in "Enter Achilles,"
creating the variant tone of this avant-garde hybrid between dance,
theater and a pscho-analytic musical drama. While often times
humorous and delightful, with female audience members laughing
aloud, "That is my husband! That is my son on stage," it can also
be threatening, frightening and confusing minutes later. "Enter
Achilles" is definitely not a trip to the ballet, and for that very
reason Newson claims its appeal.
"I’d say anyone who doesn’t like dance because they see it as
esoteric, pretty, pretentious and disconnected with their life
should see this work. It’s the complete antithesis of all those
things," Newson stresses. "At times it is very unpretty, it deals
with issues, it deals with things connected to all our lives – that
is, masculinity. ‘Cause every woman is affected by masculinity as
much as every man is."
After observing that only his female friends came to visit him
in the hospital after getting an Achilles’-tendon operation (hence
the title), witnessing his male friends transform into closet
mixed-fruit-drink drinkers (because beer is the only acceptable
drink in a public bar in order to avoid leers and scoffs) and
discovering heterosexual men were being beaten in dance-club
restrooms because of the way they dance, it’s no wonder Newson
decided to probe and even at times condemn traditional masculinity
as his next project.
Among his own life observations, Newson researched and
assimilated his findings, and 30 textbook studies later, the idea
for "Enter Achilles" was born.
"I began realizing the old adage, ‘Men do things together while
women can just be together,’" Newson remembers.
Still, his research left him with many questions left for
exploration and interpretation in the piece.
"Why is difference among men always seen in terms of sexuality?
Why do you never see two men holding hands while walking down the
street? Why is that display of friendship not allowed when it is
allowed between women?" Newson asks quickly without awaiting an
answer. "I think men are afraid of men and men police each other’s
behavior – always ready to detect what is unacceptable."
Newson not only uses exacting movements, deliberately bland
costumes, and brutish dialogue to expose the constraints of
masculinity, but he also utilizes a set that might resemble a
carnival fun house as a metaphor for the male perspective.
Termed a "false perspective" set, the small checkered-floor
stage slopes and tapers down toward the audience creating what
Newson calls "perspective distortion." The large men create even
larger movements and are confined to this 7-foot-by-5-foot pub as
dance space.
"It’s sort of like putting boys in a Wendy’s doll house. Do you
even have those in this country?" Newson chuckles as he strains to
recall the differences between Britain and the United States. "In
Britain there are these big dolls in these tiny houses. So it’s
just like when men get drunk – you know how big they become both in
volume, mind and body."
If all the bizarre imagery and fierce movement that points to
the negative male behavior appears to perpetuate male stereotypes,
or to encourage male bashing, Newson assures that what he has done
may be different but certainly not new.
"The feminist movement has done a lot of male bashing over the
years, but it hasn’t necessarily been called male bashing. It is
supposedly the dissection of male values and male power
structures," Newson says. "So I don’t think we are doing anything
different from what feminists have done, except rather than coming
from women it’s coming from men. If men were really at ease with
their masculinity, maybe men could handle that."
With the male cast of "Enter Achilles" finally chosen, Newson
probed and dug and observed and examined even his own dancers to
see exactly what they could handle. He intimately asked, "What are
your secrets?" And some men replied, "Oh, we don’t have any
secrets." Astounded, Newson asks, once again rhetorically, "Can you
imagine anyone not having any secrets?" He answers that question
quite invariably in "Enter Achilles" where men fondle dolls, climb
ropes and hold hands and whirl about in Superman suits. Anything
goes. But shhh – it’s our little secret.
DANCE: DV8 performs "Enter Achilles" beginning Thursday at the
Freud Playhouse. Tickets are $25, $9 for students. For information,
call 310-825-2101.
Photos by UCLA Center for the Performing Arts
DV8 Physical Theater deconstructs masculinity through dance in
"Enter Achilles," playing at the Freud Playhouse starting
Thursday.
A man dances with an inflatable doll, one of the aspects of
masculinity addressed in "Enter Achilles."