When your hope for humanity has reached a pretty low point, there is sometimes art that comes to the rescue. Case in point was Saturday’s rambunctious cabaret TseSho, performed by musically and artistically gifted young people who applied art to politics. The Ukrainian Teatr-Pralnia’s satirical take on current cultural issues and their heart-breaking descriptions of hatred and war were mixed up in an exuberant show using puppets, video art and vibrant music that made your heart sing and your feet dance. TseSho – What’s That? was a romp about urgent contemporary topics.

The show was both fun to watch and listen to, but also deeply thought-provoking. Four young woman on stand-up bass, cello, saxophone and accordion and one male drummer presented songs about love, gender issues, cultural clichés,

 

 

 

 

 

 

the need for affirmation (in a hilarious send-up of Facebook likes) and the desire to forget (alcoholic means included.)

 

Most profoundly, they described a world riddled by hate and destroyed by war through the eyes of a (puppet) child, who with ever increasing levels of fear recited alphabetically ordered words that defined the experience of those who are oppressed, imprisoned, threatened by violence and without means of escape. That takes courage, when thinking about the fate of some politically engaged artists in the Eastern Bloc. Just remember Sentsov, a Ukrainian filmmaker imprisoned in Russia for allegedly plotting terrorist attacks, ended a long hunger strike about 3 weeks ago, with irreversibly damaged health.

https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/world/2018/10/ukrainian-prisoner-ends-144-day-hunger-strike.html

Living in a world where political art is not just censored but can be dangerous had me even more impressed with the cabaret performers on hand.

 

 

 

 

The performers used puppets to tell some bits of their stories, stories that had universal appeal, striking the distance between audience and actors from a foreign land. The props and other visuals, like lighting, costuming, and background videography were just as remarkable as the athleticism that accompanied the music. Texts were either in English or Ukrainian, with helpful, projected super-text translations. The one thing I could have done without was a smoke machine – it generated atmospherics that were not needed, given the rest of the theatrical trick bag on display.

 

Most impressive, though, was the sleight of hand (or mind) that led the audience into a happy, funky, slightly agit-prop romp reminiscent of the very early Frank Zappa concerts at the beginning of the show; the message became progressively darker without you quite realizing it until all of a sudden it hit the point where descriptions of conflict and aggressive war entered the room. Musically this was profoundly expressed by the instruments mimicking the war noise to perfection, a kind of musical onomatopoeia.

The show is part of the US State Department’s Center Stage cultural diplomacy initiative, presented by Boom Arts here in PDX.  This year numerous artists from Ukraine and Egypt are invited to present their work during a month-long tour. Government doing good! Who’d thought….

https://exchanges.state.gov/non-us/program/center-stage

The concert will repeat this Friday and Saturday (10/26/27) at the Paris on Burnside & 3rd.

Don’t miss it!

I’ll be there, dancing instead of photographing for the next round! Unless they display additional interesting socks….

Here is 2016 clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B88Q2Ng6oRE