Sweet Land
Reviewed by Julia Lloyd George
The Industry
Through March 22 [NOTE: Closed early due to COVID-19]
RECOMMENDED
The words “experimental” and “opera” are not ones that I have ever paired in a sentence before, yet they make shockingly natural companions in the astoundingly original Sweet Land, a site-specific opera from MacArthur grant “genius” Yuval Sharon’s company, The Industry. Set in Los Angeles State Historic Park downtown, the production is a visceral, profound exploration of the impact of colonialism on the land and the societies that spring from it. It’s about the stories that we tell ourselves and how they redound across the centuries, painfully erasing some of the most important protagonists in the process.
The show begins in an open wooden structure with the metro tracks on one side and the park on the other. The indigenous people, otherwise known as the Hosts, come across the Arrivals — these are the colonists. After this initial meeting and some dialogue peppered with biblical references, the narrative reaches a fork. Depending on your assignment, you either take the “Feast” track or the “Train” track, which are distinct experiences that nevertheless undergo a similar evolution.
Since I was a “Feast” audience member, I followed a path further into the park and into another open wooden structure, this time round and intimate. The Arrivals wear the clothes of pilgrims and a table encircles the perimeter, suggesting a typical Thanksgiving scene. While the proceedings begin peacefully, the event soon devolves into conflict when one of the Arrivals, Jimmy Gin (Scott Belluz), tries to force one of the Hosts, Makwa (Kelci Hahn), to be his wife. It is a scene that starts with the bread and butter image of our national mythology and ends on a much darker note that our textbooks tend to elide.
To give much more detail would likely spoil the experience, but the narrative further fractures and mutates as the Arrivals claim dominion over the land. We sense this in the music, too, as the opera begins with heavily indigenous influences and gradually brings in baroque, classical, and even electronic sounds.
The two world-class composers, Raven Chacon and Du Yun, conjure an otherworldly atmosphere spiked with violence, while the librettists, Douglas Kearney and Aja Couchois Duncan, complement that effect with ancient, poetic language. The synthesis of all these voices makes for a polyphonic ghost story of buried trauma. By the end, when the audience gazes on a dystopian, industrialized future that integrates almost every element of the landscape, it is impossible not to feel haunted. The trouble is not forgetting.
Los Angeles State Historic Park, 1724 Baker St., Dogtown; Fri.-Sat., 7 p.m. & 9 p.m.; Sun., 5 p.m., 7 p.m. & 9 p.m.; through Mar. 22 [NOTE: Closed early due to COVID-19]. Theindustryla.org. Running time: 90 minutes with no intermission.
