Rachel Hynes' Tale of a Tiger: An Impressionistic Dark Fable
It is easy to get so used to traditional theatrical storytelling that when presented with a non-traditional storytelling discipline, a momentary sense of discombobulation will overtake one's perceptions. Perhaps this explains why the critical and audience response the brilliant El Gallo at On The Boards was so tepid, perhaps not. However, with a little perseverance and focus, it is quite easy to gain a foothold and find a thread that engages; from there, if the performance is strong enough, one will be pulled in to the proceedings.
Tale of a Tiger is a new fable created by Rachel Hynes, former Seattlite and half of the Helsinki Syndrome performance group, which uses the LeCoq clowning discipline as the unifying medium in which the story is told. Odds are, unless you're familiar with the work of the UMO Ensemble, or have graduated from Cornish/UW in the last 30 years, you won't be familiar with LeCoq. Simply put, it is a form of clowning that specifically focuses on the physicality of the performer; as a discipline it has its roots that extend as far back as commedia dell'arte and its various offshoots (namely mime, mask work, buffoonery, etc.).
In order to ease us into the realm of physical storytelling, Hynes prefaced her performance of Tale with a short piece called Call On Me, a fairly traditional bit of clowning, in which an obnoxious brown and lumpy...something (played by Hynes) tries to share its enthusiasm for a particular bit of pop music ephemera. Even after getting help from a couple of hapless audience members (using them as mic stands, and the like), the lump expressed frustration at his inability to connect, but joy in the song nonetheless. Very silly.
After a short break, Tale of a Tiger began. The fable concerns a troubled little girl who lives alone in the forest with her emotionally remote father. Naturally, and against the rules set by her dad, she seeks solace amid the company of the tigers that reside in the forest. After a traumatic event, the little girl is rendered mute, and when she needs rescuing after a misadventure, she finds herself taken in by the mountain's tiger clan and one of them comes to inhabit her being. Shortly, her behavior takes on the characteristics of a feral feline, much to the befuddlement of her father. Years pass, the nearby villagers can't stop talking about her, and that's when the gentlemen callers begin appearing. The rest is best left to be experienced.
Hynes has no trouble embodying the various different actions and characters that make an appearance in the telling of her tale, she is particularly evocative during the action sequence that leads to the little girl being adopted by the tigers. It is all prelude, however, to those moments in which she becomes the girl after being possessed by the tiger. The ease with which she transitions into the feline attitude, and how well her actions fit the situation do the job of convincing the viewer that mere words alone could not convey.
In her recent interview with Seattlest, Hynes admitted that while the essentials of the story are set in place, there might be aspects of it that will come into further development the more she performs it. Your correspondent would be most curious to see how and what such tinkering will change in Tale of a Tiger, but for the moment, Hynes has created an engaging and charismatic, if brief, little story that is greatly abetted by her mastery of her physical instrument, lending the proceedings a warmth and charm that would be missed without it.
