Leo is the silent screen Charlie Chaplin—a lone man trying to make the best of a seemingly unconquerable world. He’s Philippe Petit—a theatrical mime with the audacity and innocence of a busker, Baryshnikov after ballet- a skilled performance artist moving in unexpected, almost acrobatic ways, and Fred Astaire in Royal Wedding dancing on the walls and ceiling. Leo is the remarkable Tobias Wegner in a clever, fanciful piece defying gravity with the help of ingenious video projections and staging. Go.
Our hero finds himself with a small suitcase in a closed room. The floor is turquoise blue, one wall is red, another black. Beside it on the stage hangs a large movie screen on which we watch, simultaneous to Wegner’s performance, an altered truth. As in life, it’s a matter of perspective, in this case reconfigured by camera angles. Sometimes accompanied by music, other times in silence (there wasn’t a cough in the captivated theater), Leo passes time, notices things are not as they should be, and successively grows alarmed, then curious, then playful.
When Leo lies on the floor with his feet against the wall, he appears, on the screen, to be standing. Tossing his hat up in the room shows a horizontal boomerang effect on screen. In this way, we watch the character climb the walls, hang from the ceiling, and balance with one finger upside-down on his suitcase. He’s as surprised as we are. When Leo seems to take “normal” action in projections, he’s completely contorted in the room. Arms up and over, legs spread and crossed, turning, balancing, pushing, rolling, climbing, crawling, somersaulting, …all graceful, fluid, and clearly motivated evoking empathy.
With the awareness of confinement, Leo grows lonely. Surprises inside his suitcase, (I’m smiling as I write), created by charming use of music, art and animation first entertain and then create a cheerier reality…which doesn’t last. At the end, freedom becomes his goal. The finale is brilliant.
Tobias Wegner (concept and performance) is an exceptional thespian. Movement is a poem to strength, balance, timing, and elegance. Leo’s attitude and expressions are pitch perfect. The idea is simply wonderful.
Director Daniel Briere has offered us a journey of rare imagination. His pacing is beautifully calibrated, use of the staging area could not be more unusual and effective, the understatement of his protagonist’s emotions adds immeasurably to the piece’s touching and amusing nature.
Juan Kruz Diaz de Garaio Esnaola (Choreographer) has climbed the glass mountain with this commission. To realize such an idiosyncratic vision in two separate, simultaneous formats with variety, humor, and visual appeal is an accomplishment.
Heiko Kalmbach’s Video Design shows stellar craft as the splendidly engineered portal through which we experience much of Leo. Ingo Panke’s Animation is naïve and beguiling. It would be difficult to visualize other than Flavia Hevia’s well serving, minimalist Set and Lighting. Heather MacCrimmon’s Costume Design seems a nod to the great Gene Kelly. It fits the character like a glove right to the hat shape and size.
Photos by Andy Phillipson
The Carol Tambor Theatrical Foundation
And Circle of Even present
Leo
With Tobias Wegner
Directed by Daniel Briere
Creative Producer Gregg Parks
The Clurman Theater
410 West 42nd Street
Telecharge 212-239-6200 or www.telecharge.com
Through Sunday, February 5, 2012
