the theatre is a blank page 

Reviewed by Julia Stier 
Ann Hamilton & SITI Company 
Through May 12  

In UCLA’s beautiful Royce Hall, members of the SITI Company — under the direction of Ann Hamilton and Anne Bogart — are ready to take you on an immersive journey through the pages of Virginia Woolf’s 1927 novel To the Lighthouse. This performance, which is more of an art installation than a show, does not ask its audiences to find meaning in Woolf’s words, but rather to bask in the atmosphere and feeling of timelessness and melancholy that they create.  

A Reader (Rena Chelouche Fogel, later Bahni Turpin) rises onto the stage and begins to read aloud from Woolf’s book, a copy of which has been given to each member of the audience. For the next two and a half hours, Turpin’s nearly constant narration takes on a strange meditative quality, and serves as a guide through this haunting exploration of the text, while the other members of the SITI Company (Akiko Aizawa, Zuri Adele, Gian-Murray Gianino, Leon Ingulsrud, Ellen Lauren, and Samuel Stricklen) interact with the words in a series of ways. A true multi-media experience, the ensemble showers the stage in confetti made from pages of the book, wraps themselves in long strips of cloth that have the text printed on them, and provides us with a series of contemplative projections. The whole of Royce Hall is used, from the back row to the backstage area, and as the guides lead us onto the stage, there is the sense of diving into the words, and entering a world where thought prevails over action.

Do not go in expecting a clear narrative because there isn’t one. the theatre is a blank page is a block of time carved out from your day in which you have no responsibilities other than to listen and enjoy. An introspective journey, this experience is what you make of it. The words that pierce the veils of confusion that inevitably arise with something this experimental will resonate with you in a way that doesn’t usually happen in traditional theatre.

Royce Hall, UCLA, 340 Royce Drive, Los Angeles CA, 90095; Thurs.-Sun., 8 p.m., Sat.-Sun., 2 p.m.; through May 12. https://cap.ucla.edu; Running time: Approximately 2 hours and 30 minute, with a 10-minute intermission.