UNOFEST REVIEW
What: The Secrets of Naming Clouds
Where: Intrepid Theatre Club
When: Final show 4:30 p.m. today
Rating: 4 1/2 stars out of five
Autobiographical art — be it theatre, literature, dance, music or film — has been all the rage in recent years. This is fine and dandy if the creator’s life story is fascinating. If not, it’s merely self indulgence.
Happily, in the case of The Secrets of Naming Clouds, Kerri Flannigan’s personal history is compelling — and unusual. Using video and slides as well as recorded and live narration, this Victoria artist has created a sweet, thoughtful performance piece well worth seeking out.
The Secrets of Naming Clouds, which had its world première Thursday night, is essentially a rumination on how humans communicate. Flannigan grew up in an unusual family. Her sister suffered from a mental disability that left her non-verbal. She communicated mostly by sign language, later using a binder of printed symbols to convey ideas.
As a child, Flannigan’s father had his own difficulties communicating, for some reason speaking in a language of his own devising. When he started school, his brother had to translate his “words” to the teachers.
Such a background got Flannigan interested in the nature of language and whether the spoken word is the best way to convey ideas. She states her interest in “how my family communicates — kind of gently, kind of obliquely.”
In The Secrets of Naming Clouds she discusses Charles Bliss, a Ukrainian engineer who invented a writing system based on symbols called Blissymbolics. Flannigan also describes her repressive Methodist upbringing. Early on, this left her reluctant to discuss sex or relationships. Interestingly, as a teenager, such repression led to her writing a Sweet Valley High-style book in which a sexually aggressive boy gets his comeuppance.
The Secrets of Naming Clouds also recalls her handicapped sister’s obsession with Adam Sessler, an American video-game TV personality. In a poignant sequence, Flannigan recalls how her entire family travelled to Los Angeles in a quixotic attempt to arrange a meeting with this unlikely hero.
We see early home videos of a 12-year-old Flannigan dancing to Whitney Houston’s Queen of the Night. There are projections of clouds (her father loved identifying cloud formations), old photos and Flannigan’s own drawings, rendered in a primitive zine-comic style.
As the narrator, Flannigan places herself physically in the way of the videos and projections, sometimes holding up objects such as large paper disc. This gives the show an arty, slightly unreal feel. She relates her story in a non-theatrical, matter-of-fact way — rarely looking at the audience. It may be intentional or perhaps it’s shyness. Somehow this low-key approach works very well, creating a greater intimacy.
The Secrets of Naming Clouds leaves us pondering Flannigan’s singular past and reflecting on the nature of human communication. It’s an intriguing and accomplished work by a promising young artist.