" 'Psychic Self Defense' is an exuberant reminder that theater makers don’t have to be teachers or missionaries. Sometimes, they can create extraordinary things by embracing pure imagination."
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Despite being immersed in its imagery, imagination, and otherworldly cacophony of bells, bongs, tinkling, whistles, static, and buzzing, I was not unhappy when the final curtain fell on Psychic Self Defense. It’s cleverly concocted, visually engaging, technically complex, and excellently executed; these positives, though, aren’t enough to overcome its excessive ambiguity, which weighs too heavily on its reception. I must report that the audience at the preview I attended clapped and clapped and clapped. I merely clapped.
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“Beyond even the sheer magical weirdness of what you’re seeing, the experience puts viewers in a state of mind that’s unlike anything I’ve experienced in the theater before; my brain disgorged thoughts and went places while hypnotized, mesmerized, and/or bemused by it that made me consider whether there were legitimately hallucinogens in the air ducts.”
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Gorgeous, impish and enveloping…It has few of the oft-quoted Aristotelian elements of drama…But it has an abundance of one element that has defined the legitimate stage for hundreds of years: Theater curtains. The show is alive with a huge variety of theater curtains…always in motion…I can’t say I never drifted, but the show seemed designed to encourage us to do so; to promote our own reverie.
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Its hour of upbeat surrealistic vignettes is realized through grand stagecraft. Spoken word is minimal, but vibrant curtains are plentiful during the presentation. Some attendees could spend the time pondering the show’s meaning, while others could simply revel in the engaging enigmatic high theatricality before them. Chuckles and wonderment abound.
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