Composition…Master-Pieces…Identity: Review by Helen Shaw
An evening of Gertrude Stein pieces, performed with rigorous care by David Greenspan (I'm Looking for Helen Twelvetrees), is the kind of work that chooses its audience with jewelers’ tweezers. For those who love modernism, here are two of its diamonds: the great language artist Stein herself, a prickly, still-difficult writer who polished sentences till they shone too brightly to be understood; and cool, glacially graceful Greenspan, who makes Stein’s repetitive language into something wry, apposite, even sweet.
In Target Margin Theater’s production, everything not language is purely minimalist. Greenspan recites two lectures—“Composition as Explanation” and “What are Master-Pieces and Why Are There So Few of Them?”—along with the poem “Identity,” in front of a blank wall. His is a warm simplicity: He chats with us during intermission, discussing Stein’s provocative proposals, like the idea that artists must sacrifice identity for entity. Some may not thrill to this kind of pleasure, but even the Stein-averse will be simultaneously hypnotized and awakened by Greenspan’s dancerly performance. He, we can all agree, is a sort of master-piece unto himself, and we have not few but only one of him.—Helen Shaw
Connelly Theater (Off Broadway). By Gertrude Stein. Conceived and performed by David Greenspan. Running time: 1hr 25mins. One intermission. Through June 27.