Williams and a touch of Eire

Detail of Irish Hunger Memorial, Battery Park City 
(c)2010, Eva Yaa Asantewaa

Everyone knows that when you follow a faerie or other ethereal denizen of the Nether World into its otherworldly space, you risk never coming back. Everyone knows that, right? You've all read the old tales, heard the legends? So why follow one of these creatures into the decidely un-Manhattan terrain of the Irish Hunger Memorial at Battery Park City--and under a blazing hot sun to boot? Yet batches of people have been willing to do precisely that for choreographer Christopher Williams all this week and will do so again today at 12:30pm.

The Voyage of Garbhglas

(excerpt)

by Christopher Williams

all photos (c)2010, Eva Yaa Asantewaa

And now I will risk shocking you all by saying that, in this instance, I strongly agree with Times man Alastair Macaulay, who wrote: "You want Mr. Williams's work to be wonderful because it's so wacky."

Maybe something more than that, Alastair. I'd like Williams's work to be more effective because I like the course of his searching and talented mind, and I'm tickled by his idiosyncratic, determinedly retro trend in all things theatrical. He's a different kind of fellow. But I'll agree that the results, in terms of choreography and storytelling, can leave me unsatisfied.

Sydney Skybetter in The Voyage of Garbhglas

Sopranos Amanda Gregory and Amanda Kelly

all photos (c)2010, Eva Yaa Asantewaa

Detail from Irish Hunger Memorial inner wall

There's also the issue of the memorial's inner wall... 

Walking through that tunnel is not exactly an experience of wackiness. The memorial is a wondrous site--a collaboration by artist Brian Tolle, landscape architect Gail Wittwer-Laird and 1110 Architect--and is genuinely made up of stone, soil and vegetation from The Old Sod. Williams's production utilizes this for visual effect but feels not just flimsy as art but also disconnected from the larger meaning of the memorial itself.

The Voyage of Garbhlas (excerpt)

Today at 12:30pm -- free
Irish Hunger Memorial

Vesey Street and North End Avenue, Battery Park City, Manhattan

Info at River to River Festival