About This Show

Conceived, directed, and choreographed by Martha Clarke, Kaos stages parts of four Luigi Pirandello stories featured in the Taviani Brothers’ 1984 film of the same name.

Taking its title from the Sicilian hamlet where Pirandello was born, Kaos (pronounced KAH-ows, after the Italian) is set at the dawn of the twentieth century and portrays common people in mystical situations, heavily influenced by poverty, violent political unrest and social changes set in motion by mass migration. Through a fusion of text, dance movement, and live music based on Sicily’s historical North African roots and its evocative folk songs, Martha Clarke tells the stories that Pirandello witnessed in the harsh Sicilian landscape, as he captured a culture and language on the brink of radical change.

The lyrical and haunting stories tell of a lonely mother desperately trying to make contact with her children in America, a bride discovering that her new husband goes mad with each full moon and a clan of peasants fighting for the right to have a cemetery on the land they have cultivated for generations.

Additional Ticket and Box Office Information:

Maintaining its commitment to making theatre accessible to all theatergoers, New York Theatre Workshop continues its CheapTix program in which all tickets for all Sunday evening performances cost $20.00. Tickets may be purchased in advance, payable in cash only, and are available in person only at the NYTW Box Office. For all performances, student tickets cost $20.00, based on availability, and can be purchased in advance from the NYTW Box Office with valid student identification. The NYTW Box Office is open 1:00 PM to 6:00 PM, Tuesday through Saturday.

Show Details

Running Time: 1hr 30min (0 intermissions)
Dates: Opening Night: December 4, 2006 Final Performance: December 31, 2006

Theatermania Review

| | December 4, 2006
Martha Clarke’s new dance-theater piece is heavy on mood, but light on substance.