U of L explore Dadaism in new production

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 University of Lethbridge students go through the looking glass a little on their last mainActors rehearse sound poem in DADA Does Not Mean Anything: An Avant-garde Cabaret . Photo by Richard Amery-stage production of the season, DADA Does Not Mean Anything: An Avant-garde Cabaret happening March 12-16 in the David Spinks Theatre.


“There are 11 different pieces. They began in my class in October,” said faculty administrator Justin Blum, he said, adding the pieces were inspired by the  DADA art movement of the early twentieth century.


“A lot of it was a reaction to World War 1,” he said.


“ We have a sound poem by Hugo  Ball,” he continued, adding  other pieces push the boundaries of space, lighting and  the theatre itself, so the production takes the audience into a dream state.
“ There are 14 people in the cast including six students who were in the class,” he said adding some of them are in multiple pieces.

The actors didn’t quite know what to expect coming into the show, but were intrigued by the process.
“ I knew it was going to be  weird. I’ve done devised theatre before, but nothing like this,” said  first year drama performance major Andrew Burniston, who is in sound poem.

“The audition was nothing like I’d ever done before because they asked me to prepare a nursery rhyme,” he continued. And asked us to come prepared to do anything and was not disappointed,” he said.


Fellow first year drama major  Jaymie Brennan was also intrigued by the concept.
“I’m in Sound Poem and Total Eclipse, which is a performance of the lyrics of Total Eclipse of the Heart,” she said.
 Definitely come with an open mind,” Brennan advised.


“ I hope people come into  the show with an open mind and are prepared to have a visceral experience. Because there isn”t a plot it’s about the experience.
DADA Does Not Mean Anything: An Avant-garde Cabaret runs in the David Spinks Theatre, March 12-16 at 7:30 p.m. each night.

— By Richard Amery, L.A. Beat Editor
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