With its hefty subtitle, “In the Light and the Darkness of the Self and of the Other,” There is a rare bird: contemporary poetry on stage. Making rarefied language solid and visceral is Wilma’s HotHouse company, and the result is visually arresting and aurally haunting.
But if you go to the theater for plot or character or conventional dialogue, this is not the show for you.
The words spoken by the eight actors and sung by the four singers were written by Etel Adnan, a Lebanese-American poet and philosopher. They are about identity and love and war and the birth and death of civilization. Blanka Zizka (who also directed) co-created this performance piece with visual artist Rosa Barba who created a stunning sculptural set of two swooping ramps. The dramatic lighting, designed by Thom Weaver, creates a world of brilliance and shadows.
[The Wilma Theater, 265 S. Broad Street] September 11–22, 2019; fringearts.com/event/there