Review: Black Light

Another month, another ART show. We just got home from Black Light. tl;dr: the right adjective here is "fabulous", in so many different senses of the word. I don't know if it's for everyone, but I thought it was great.

I never quite know what to expect from shows at Oberon. If you haven't seen it, it's basically a dance club, so shows there tend to be edgier and more interactive than the usual stage shows. I've found them to be a mixed bag, personally -- last year's show there left me a bit cold. This one used the space well, sometimes focusing on the stage up front but happily wandering into the audience when the moment was right.

What is the show? It's certainly not a play, and it's not really a musical. The term that comes to mind for me is "performance art" -- I was very much put in mind of "Over the Moon" from Rent -- but Kate objects that that is too squishy a term. More specifically, this is political performance art: an intense mix of semi-autobiographical monologue and song, performed by Jomama Jones and her backing-band-slash-collaborators.

The show is ninety minutes without intermission, so be prepared for that. During that time, it wends through several different anecdotal threads between the songs (structurally, it reminds me a little of Fun Home in this respect), on topics of childhood, growing up, history, and (not least) Prince, slowly pulling the bundle tighter as it gets to the point towards the end.

This is a ferociously political show, about hellish times then and now, but one that is neither preachy nor depressing. Instead, it seeks to provoke determination, and it gets downright inspirational as it goes along. It deliberately takes you a little bit out of the workaday, easy comfort zone, and the effect can be powerful if you allow it.

The music is funky and hip -- nothing like the current-day pop of Six, but damned good and from the heart.

Rather like The Black Clown last year, this one is hard to categorize, but it's a very personal statement, and a brilliant one. Recommended, particularly for my friends who seriously like music and aren't afraid of something a bit intense and meaningful. (I'll particularly recommend this to Wex, Liska and Red, all of whom I suspect would get into it.)

Oh, and don't open your purple envelope until the end of the show -- it's kind of a spoiler.