Review: ‘Cartography’ by Christopher Myers and Kaneza Schaal
Victoria Nassif, Malaika Uwamahoro, Noor Hamdi, Janice Amaya. Photo: NYUAD
Dave Rabjohn, Associate Toronto Critic
As is becoming increasingly frustrating, we write a review in the context of a world pandemic. But at least we can and it was encouraging to experience a streaming of an archived performance of ‘Cartography’ by Christopher Myers and Kaneza Schaal to fall in concert with World Refugee Day. Production background gets lengthy – stay with me: Produced by ArkType/Thomas O. Kriegsman, performed by NYUAD Arts Centre in Abu Dhabi, presented in partnership with UNHCR and co-hosted, among others, by Canada’s own Young People’s Theatre. A mouthful, true, but there is a wonderful poignant drama that surfaces. Happily, YPT will continue to post the program on their Facebook page until June 26.
According to a guide created by The Kennedy Center, this is ‘devised documentary theatre.’ ‘Devised’ suggesting improvisational elements and ‘documentary’ suggesting real stories of real people. The cast of four play a variety of roles – mainly refugees running from a variety of menacing situations – war, poverty, politics, hopelessness. As an ensemble, they touch on themes including identity, bureaucracy, family, and hope. The cast employs a full range of stage tools from soliloquy to choral chanting to singing – each with various degrees of effectiveness. What stands out as a highlight, though, is the intricateness of state of the art technology.
The assimilation of technology with theatre goes back to footcandles downstage. But this was different: ‘Cartography’ became a factory for NYUAD graduate students in interactive media and algorithms who boldly devised and experimented with computer-enhanced platforms that created striking effects enriching the stories of loss, hope, and solidarity. One rich irony is that simple cardboard boxes become the ‘screen’ for highly complex images. The opening image of an angry sea is a leitmotif throughout the production. According to background trailers, actors’ voices are technically linked to the image so as voices rise in anger, the image becomes more severe – digital pathetic fallacy, if you will.
It goes on: towards the end, an enormous digital map of the world is presented. Actors invite audience members to pull out their phones and link with an app that connects them with the map. The audience is encouraged to manipulate the map by drawing an arc from where they once lived to where they live now. The map jumps with life as we view colourful streams of lines moving across the globe as the audience continues to participate. One could be cynical and dismiss this as a cheap digital parlour trick, but it is not. Because of the context of the human stories being told by actors, we consider the richness of experience, both horrifying and joyful, in each of those traveling arcs. Eventually, the many colourful trails blend incorporating the theme of solidarity.
Coming back to the ensemble, their work is often seamless as they parade through a series of questions meant to examine issues of refugee plight. What is a map questions the idea of borders and relationships? Where is the start of the line questions the roots of being uprooted? How do you invent yourself questions the source of identity. Poignant moments often come from mini monologues: someone is excited about different kinds of soap, a story about fences reflects on the issue of belonging. Humour is also embraced with cultural references to hollow affluence such as a Justin Beiber haircut or watching ‘The Bachelor.” Some acting seemed somewhat forced as seen in a bumpy finale.
Myers and Schaal cleverly enrich the story with a number of simple metaphors and symbols that sprout into deeper connections and more lofty themes. Mylar heat sheets distributed to refugees point to a spacecraft metaphor where the space “family” must cling and drift together. The importance of shoes when one is running or displaced is subtly highlighted with each actor wearing colourful or bold footwear. The shoes come on and off as they travel and sometimes only one shoe is worn reflecting on their displacement in the world.
We can only hope that this rich imagining will one day arrive at YPT’s stage in Toronto. Meant for a teenage audience, the embracing of technology will inspire that cohort. One actor suggests “hunger is like the best sauce.” Following the pandemic, we will be salivating for such clever theatre.
‘Cartography’ by Christopher Myers and Kaneza Schaal
Director: Kaneza Schaal
Designer: Christopher Myers
Actors: Janice Amaya, Noor Hamdi, Victoria Nassif, Malaika Uwamahoro
Streamed production – archived from NYUAD Arts Centre, February, 2020.
Continues on YPT Facebook page until June 26, 2020