Appearance- A Suspense in Being

In its heart, Appearance – A Suspense in Being is a performance piece about acting. In that respect it is unusual, since so much experimental theater is now devoted to movement theater and multimedia. Altomare and Crispino have devised a performance structure which focuses primarily on the actor’s work, as revealed to the audience in a series of solo “exhibits” and group improvs. There is a stiff dose of Meyerhold in it, since Carlo Altomare is one of the few experts in Meyerhold’s Biomechanics worldwide. Its centerpiece text is taken from the poetry of Octavio Paz, expressing the issue of the experience of being, the self, and the other. Other verbal and nonverbal texts are drawn from the actors’ unconscious and their reporting in real time about their experiences and intentions.