A Real Boy

While The National Ballet is debuting its new production of Pinocchio, I am at the Betty Oliphant Theatre to see another puppet in a recital entitled Love, Sex & Brahms. Coleman Lemieux & Compagnie is presenting an expanded version of Kudelka's Dora-winning piece. The puppet in question, a stuffed bald man in a suit, is by conceit a Greek immigrant named Sarkis.

Through 17 Brahms' piano pieces, played by Andrew Burashko (Art of Time Ensemble), we witness an upper-middle-class (or perhaps even gentry) family from the turn of last century interact with each other in a drawing-room drama. There are coquette flirtation between youngsters, well-worned arguments between long-time couples, and plenty of social maneuvering and conflict between all members of both sexes. Repressed sexuality, both the common and "deviant", are a common thread. There is also a dark section that hints at sexual assault, or at least its possibility.

Sarkis participates through the manipulation of all the dancers, as witness, collaborator, and often proxy for someone else's inner thought. Nevertheless, he is perhaps in too many interactions that finally felt gimmicky. I want to see more movement where the dancers aren't constrained by including him in their choreography. The dancers, both men and women, come from a large range of ages. Ballerina Evelyn Hart, among others, is still graceful and sure-footed.