Renato Fimene (Photo by Thiago Roma)
Reviewed by Asa Fris
BRALA Productions at The Artisans Creative Space
Through July 27
158 Steps is a solo show conceived and performed by Renato Fimene, and written and directed by Cesar Baptista. Baptista and Fimene use the life of a Brazilian actor “Nobody” to comment on the struggles immigrants face while pursuing their dreams. Nobody’s journey is told through a fragmented sequence of dances, video projections, comedic routines, and meta discourse with the audience.
The production raises important questions about justice, class and racial inequality, and our desire to be recognized, though it often leaves these questions unexplored or answered too literally. Literal and highly intellectualized answers wind up feeling like an oral presentation, despite the personal nature of the anecdotes, which results in redundant information and slows the pace of the piece. And so many questions are posed that inevitably some are rushed by, clouding the focus of the narrative.
The fragmented nature of the show is interesting, but the order in which the material is presented feels arbitrary. Within this random structure, Fimene not only plays Nobody, but also an assortment of other characters that Nobody comes into contact with, such as casting directors or a border patrol agent. When the action of a scene is clear and Fimene is able to root himself in a character, it’s quite engaging. Of particular note is an emotionally spiraling dance that Nobody performs to prove his Brazilian nationality. But often the action is unclear, and it’s difficult to relate to or empathize with Nobody, or any of the other characters.
This is partly due to the staging, with Fimene spending a considerable amount of time setting up or striking set pieces, performing costume changes, or retrieving props. These transitions and tasks don’t add anything to the characters; they are done purely out of necessity. The end result is to break Fimene’s momentum and hamper his ability to dig deep into the serious material.
The technical elements of the production are pretty enthralling, especially given the limitations of the performance space, which is a small rectangular room with windows on the near walls. The rest of the room is quite bare, save for a toilet, bed, table, and rug. The sparseness of the set allows the numerous video projections and live video feeds, designed by Thiago Roma, to stand out.
One especially intriguing function of the projections is a live language translation. The show is presented in three languages, Portuguese, Spanish, and English, and the translation aids those who don’t speak more than one of these languages proficiently, like myself. The concept is great and helpful when it works, but it froze a lot and distracted from the performance itself. And many elements of the design — and the narrative — fall into this semi-successful category, where the concept is great, but the execution is so-so, culminating in a very personal but unfocused exploration of our humanity.
The Artisans Creative Spaces, 937 East Pico Blvd., LA. Thurs.-Sun., 8 pm; thru July 27. 158stepsplay.eventbrite.com Running time approximately 1 hour 40 minutes, no intermission
