CENTER STAGE: Performance: Metronome

Group: IntuitionsGroup: IntuitionsDirector: Michael Goldstein But Goldstein's assertion is disturbing. Neither is the ballet outdated (is there a need to prove that?), nor could theater ever replace it. Despite this troubling premise, Intuitons' experimental, alternative theater presented the audience with a new conception of theater. by creating a relationship between the music and the characters. The beginning of the play showed that music and rhythm could reflect a state of mind and shape the characters. The play even provoked the question -- which came first, the music or the dramatic thought? The performance demonstrated that words are not necessary. Music expressed the unheard thoughts and allowed a certain amount of tension in the development of the plot. It also heightened the crisis of the main character and filled in gaps in the plot evolution. As the play continued, it became more clearly articulated and its voice became more intense. A love story developed on the wings of the music and reached its culmination in the explosion of violence at the end of the first act. One question that persisted as the play progressed was whether the point of the show was to focus on the mime, on the theatrical act or on the audience's reaction to the music. It seemed at times that the music took over and let the actors' mime fade in the background. Sophomore Mark Goldman, who played the main character, was a bit too flat. Yet sophomore Clare Bayard, acting as the main character's lover, further explored the mime's forceful expression. The alternating lighting helped elevate the play's intensity. In one scene, a red light cast negative shapes of the performers' bodies, creating an unforgettable image for the audience. In the end, the play's theme came full circle. Love wins all, despite all. Stronger than drugs and power, love took over the scene -- and Pink Floyd's "Pigs on the Wing II" fell as the theater's curtain. The show's ending proved that the music's effect was emphasized over the mime. The one drawback was that there wasn't more focus on the mimed actions. Despite this, "Metronome" was a unique show and a true success. --Raluca Georgescu